My two cents ...

On the eve of the final demise of the Canadian Penny, I can't help but share my 'two cents' pictured above.

They are not special nor are they remarkable. They are just two little pennies that I found in September while we were getting mom's house ready for the Auction sale that cleaned out the final items in the house.

The two pennies had been sitting on a shelf above Dad's workbench in the basement, likely since he put them there 45 years ago ... They were tucked back against the cement wall with items that I don't ever remember moving or touching ... given the dates, I would imagine Dad took them out of his pocket and put them on the shelf while he was puttering around the workbench, and there they sat until I found them 45 years later and put them in my pocket and carried them home ...

They have no monetary value beyond the 2 cents they are worth. But the value they carry because I can place them in Dad's hand sometime before he died, makes them precious ... I've tucked them in a simple wooden box I bought for mom when I was touring the Middle East during my University years, and that she used to store mementoes I had given her over the years ... in the box along with the pennies are a cheap wooden and plastic crucifix I bought for a shekel from a Coptic Priest sitting at the back of the 'Tomb of Jesus' in the Church of the Holy Sepluchre in Jerusalem, a mother-of-pearl brooch I bought her in Cairo, and other assorted odds and ends I had given her over the years ... like the pennies, none of the items are valuable in and of themselves, but because now, two years after her death, I can open the box and remember her and the moments in time when I gave her those trinkets, they are precious.

They are precious because Mom put them aside in a special box that in turn sat on her dresser amid the other items that were important touchstones to her ... every once in awhile when it is quiet, I open the box and let my finger run over the assorted items contained within it, and I smile ... they may not be valuable, but they are important ...

... my two cents'!!! 

A New Chapter

I can hear my mother saying "What are you doing??"

Yet, despite moving from excited to terrified and back again with regularlity, I am moving forward slowly and intentionally on my new dream ...

The building pictured above is mine. The final sale went through last week, and we're in the process of getting it ready to be a Local Coffee Shop specializing in Fair Trade Products and local food, craft and artisan products as well.

Highland Grounds will have an echo of Chipperfield Coffee Company in Minnedosa and Forbidden Flavours in Brandon - but it will be it's own distinctive Flesherton creation ... I know what I want it to be, and I've heard what the local folks have said they are looking for, and right now we are working to bring those two streams together, and create a community hub for the Flesherton and Grey Highlands area.

The goal is to be open sometime in mid to late March, with an official 'Grand Opening' after Easter, but for now I will be uncommittal around dates - there is a lot of work to be done, and as we move forward there is little doubt plans will have to change and alter as we learn more about the building, and more about the business we've proposed.

The bottom line, as of today is Highland Grounds will be a coffee shop specializing in the provision of high quality Fair Trade products, while providing a place for people to come and sit and enjoy the ambience of a building that has been an integral part of 'Downtown' Flesherton for three generations as a Hardware Store. That legacy will be honoured and continued, and Highland Grounds will strive to be an active and unrepentent promotor of the other local businesses, and the many wonderful things that are happening in and around Flesherton throughout the year.

When the door is finally opened for business, I look forward to welcoming you all into this exciting (and slightly terrifying) undertaking - and I will be proud to pour you a cup of Fair Trade Coffee and share this dream with you ...

See you soon !!!

Marking the day ...

Two years ago this morning I answered the phone and my world dramatically changed ...

Scott said "Um, ... yeah ... mom died this morning ..."

The morning that followed was a blur ... and much of the next 24 months remains a blur ...

Mom died. We prepared for her service and began cleaning up around the house and getting ready to clean it out once and for all ... then our neighbour, mentor, friend and father figure Laverne died and I was asked to deliver the eulogy for his service ...

On the way back from the funeral, Scott gave me what I will forever cherish as the most important compliment I've ever received. While driving he said, "you know you're pretty good at doing that ..."

"Doing what?"
"Funerals. I mean you planned Mom's with Kathy and it was great. And Laverne's was really good. You got us laughing, then almost to tears and back to laughing, all by telling the stories of who he was and what he meant to us. You're good."
I choked out a thank you, then after a quiet moment he said: "I want you to do my eulogy."
"What?"
"I want you to do my eulogy." he repeated.
"I thought you were going to out live me so you can dance on my grave?" I offered in return.
"Oh yeah," Scott laughed, "I am. But you know you can never be sure. It's good to have a plan in place just in case you know!"

After we laughed our conversation turned to other more mundane things like the meeting we had with the lawyer and the storm that hit that afternoon and kept me in Stratford til the next morning.

Two weeks later, I would make a very long cold drive on a February night to find Scott lying dead in his bed, and a week later I would fulfil that request and deliver the eulogy at his memorial ...

Looking back it has been a LONG two years ... after Mom, Mr Baumbach and Scott I went to BC to say farewell to our friend Indigo, then spend endless hours cleaning, sorting and pitching the 50 plus years of stuff gathered in the house we called home ... along the way I've settled their affairs and estate, sorted and cleaned and sold off much of the stuff, had two break ins at the bush, and have filled my house with mementos and remembrances of my life ...

Looking forward, I'm on the verge of opening a new business in Flesherton to offer Fair Trade coffee and a place for the community to come and gather and celebrate all things LOCAL, and my children are standing on the verge of adulthood, having grown considerably in the last couple of years with all of life's ups and downs and twists and turns.

There is much I would do differently if given a chance, and there are things I wish I could unwind. But in life you can only keep moving forward and trusting in the simple reality that with each step you heal and learn and grow ...

It's been a long two years ... there is not a day that passes that I don't miss Mom and Scott and wonder how different things would be if they were still here ... I miss Mom's phone calls ... I miss the occasional conversation Scott and I were able to have ... and I miss the expressions and comments he could and would always offer ... I miss them, but I'm glad I had that last six months to get reacquainted and reconnected with them.

Today, all through my house I am reminded of them ... and that makes me able to smile more then weep ...