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LETTER: Attitude is everything

I awoke this morning in the pre-dawn darkness and wondered about this global pandemic. I was at first annoyed that I would be staying at home for the next while.

I awoke this morning in the pre-dawn darkness and wondered about this global pandemic.

I was at first annoyed that I would be staying at home for the next while. I stay home a lot these days, however, one reacts differently when they are forced to do so. Although I yearn to be outdoors like everyone else, the drastic implications of not complying with social distancing certainly are alarming.

But as the light of dawn grew, a feeling of embarking on a grand global adventure came to me.

The excitement of our 2000 trip to the North came to mind. We set out two parents’ two boys and two dogs in our large van towing a trailer. We had tried to take our adventure on wheels with a boat, bikes, our tent, cots and a bug tent for our meals. We went north as far as you could drive at the time, left one son up there on a canoeing trip, sold our boat, which paid for his flight home and got our van sliding door smashed up along the way.

These events were in no way anything but part of a wonderful adventure and a much longer story. What I hope to impart in this letter is that at the start of an adventure, as surely this a global event is, one never knows the implications or the outcome.       

I think that what makes this adventure interesting — for those of us who remain healthy — in the context of today is that we had regular habits of life on the road that kept our days busy. We set up and took down our tents and cots along with our camp kitchen almost every day.

We walked our dogs, cooked most of our meals and appreciated the occasional restaurant snacks. Much the same as we do now in our self-isolation, we adhere to our daily routine.     

Although we are certainly challenged as a global community like never before and we have no choice but to endure at this time, we can choose how we go forward: with courage and positivity or negativity and fear.

I choose to endure with grace and courage, hoping for the best outcome possible under trying circumstances and I hope this letter inspires you to do the same. 

Riun Blackwell

Squamish

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