Last updated on April 3rd, 2021 at 02:15 pm
Growing up, the most my family dealt with the outdoors was around our Mississauga neighbourhood with bike rides by the Credit River, or horsing around with our friends at the nearby park when we weren’t too busy with cartoons or video games. Some reasons for this were obvious — even as a Black family without a huge Black community surrounding us, it still wasn’t “something we did”, spending what vacation time my parents could cobble together on other local attractions, like Niagara Falls’ Marineland or Vaughan’s Canada’s Wonderland.
I mean, sure we changed it up sometimes—we spent time at Myrtle Beach with our aunt and took a family trek down to Jamaica to appreciate better where our parents came from, but we were city kids. We knew bus stops and suburb blocks, shopping malls and streetcars… we grew up with the frenetic pace of The Big Smoke, thinking that’s just how life was.
Sarah, however, sees different.
A Whole New World
If I hadn’t married Sarah, whose family’s hugely into the outdoors with mountain climbers, lifeguards and dragon boat racers in their midst, other than a short grade trip to close the 2000 school year off, I don’t think I’d have ever found my way to a campsite.
Long before she met me, Sarah’s family camped regularly. Visiting dozens of sites across Ontario, they put plenty of mileage to their minivan with tent trailer in tow, spending plenty of quality family time in close quarters as they travelled.
Fast forward fifteen years, where we’re attempting our first camping trip as a family with a child at Sandbanks Provincial Park in Prince Edward County, continuing the traditions Sarah knew so well in her youth. Despite the chorus of shock and doubt every time someone heard we were taking a 21-month old toddler into the wilderness, we knew we needed to set expectations for quality time with family now to become part of how the Palmers operate later.
I was admittedly hesitant at first, cherishing my comforts and ever wary of nature, filled with things that could end me. But with our gear from our 2011 glamping trip in the back of a truck and the humbling experience of our 2012 trip to Tanzania in my soul, I knew I was more than ready to get on board. Somewhere along the line, I grew up a little, going beyond my comfort zone to build the experiences my family can love today instead of trying to play catch-up tomorrow.
We need to practice what we preach.
“Goodness Starts Today”—A motto to help you remember to get your act together IMMEDIATELY… not wait for when it FEELS like the right time!
It’s like I said in last week’s post with Quaker—”Goodness Starts Today”. Sure, the world weighs heavy on our souls, making it hard to see the rays of hope through everything else designed to keep us distracted, but ultimately, you are responsible for yourself. No one else can make you a happier person, better parent, or an award-winning employee. You have to want to make your life a better one and seize the opportunities to do so whenever they’re put before you.
It’s too often I hear complaints that there’s not enough time; that someone’s not good enough to do this or get that; that it “must be nice” for certain people to be lucky enough to live life the way they do. I spend too much time on subway trains seeing my city’s tired and weary, life beating them down too much for them to bear, resigned to taking whatever life’s dished out for them instead of fighting for anything better.
But Goodness Starts Today.
You can make this the first day of a new direction, focused on making every move count—not just going through the motions. And it doesn’t need to be anything big—you could play a board game. Go for a family walk. Have a picnic in the backyard or send someone a handwritten letter just because.
Too often do we spend our time focused on the grand, sweeping gestures and the lofty expenses that keep us hustling that we forget it doesn’t take much to spend time with the people who matter most… we just need to make it happen!
And so we’re in Picton, visiting the Prince Edward Country restaurants. The endlessly shallow beaches. Doing what we can to live a great life. And with Quaker, maybe you can, too!
You get one shot at life.
Use it.
Until the next,
Disclosure: Again, this was a compensated post via my benefactors at Quaker Canada who wants us all to remember that there’re things we can do today to improve our lives—it’s not worth waiting ’til tomorrow to regret the poor decisions we made in the past.
For more information on Quaker Canada’s “Goodness Starts Today” campaign and other stuff they’re up to, you can check them out on their site, their Facebook page, or on YouTube!
As for me, you can find me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube!
2 replies on “Quaker | So Long and Thanks for the Sandbanks”
It’s a beautiful thing (motto) for life: Goodness starts today. I should put it on a t-shirt. And very inspiring message (altho’ I’d argue that those who need it the most won’t see this, tho’ many of us who read this will benefit from it). I must remember this. It’s a new way to frame some of the things I already do and a reminder to do more, to wring more juice, fun, contentment, bliss out of life. I would say this is one of your best pieces except I haven’t read enough of you to make that judgment. It is however the best inspirational piece I have read in a while. Thanks.
Yo’ cuz from cross da border.
Goodness Starts Today!
Cuz, you touch on some salient points here that bother me at times. I feel like I write and have honed my voice to a point where I’m happy with the words that come out, but how do I get these thoughts to people who could benefit from them? I feel like the audience I speak to looks and acts largely like myself — I need to step outside of this bubble and find a world where people haven’t seen anything like this.
Though I haven’t the slightest idea on how to get there.
That said, even with the people who’ve read my stuff for years, I still want them to lead the best lives they possibly can. That’s what I’m always going for — what can I do to help people become the best selves they can possibly be and do something meaningful with their God-given resources?
It’s not an answer I have right now, but a question that often comes to mind.
Hope you stick around for everything yet to come ? I’ve yet to completely clear this cranium out!
Have a great one, Dale!
–Case