Relaxing...

Most people find traveling to be a stressful experience... there have been times (like this year) when I have had the stress of racing to catch planes, getting stuck in the subway on the way to the airport, leaving Regina at 6am on a terrifyingly turbulant flight, discovering the joys of Brasil's internal transit systems... this voyage, however, is different. I have a definite end time - I am needed in Hamilton before Friday night, and I had to leave Winnipeg as I no longer have a house there... but in the in-between I've been taking some serious downtime. I'm hanging out with friends right now at the canoe base near Atikokan, ON, two hours west of Winnipeg. I've slept well, helped build a shower house (as such), and tonight went for a sunset paddle - watched Blake catch the mother of all Bass (fish for breakfast tomorrow!), watched some other wildlife (merganzers, loons, beavers). I've taken the opportunity to just BE. No deadlines, no worries, very few people able to reach me. It's a good feeling. Definitely needed after the past few weeks - between work, and packing, and writing the term papers, and then the emotional stuff of ordination, first Eucharist, and saying goodbyes... hard to do. I'm grateful for the rest right now! There's just no way to be stressed with the sun going down on a calm lake and the quietness of dipping your paddle in the water. I know my soul finds peace in this part of the world - it's getting that now.