Grandby River, Grand Forks, BC Being off-grid for a long weekend with my best friends is always magnificent. So happy to celebrate my friend, Kath's birthday. 💜💜💜

The answer does not come when you are ready. ⏳ It comes when your hands have opened, 🤲 when the last thread of certainty has slipped between your fingers, 🧵 when you have stood at the edge of the known and whispered, “I don’t know what happens next.” 🌌 And still— you stay. 🫶 Not because you are fearless. 🦁 Not because you have mastered surrender. 🌊 Not because you secretly enjoy the waiting. ⏳ You stay because somewhere beneath exhaustion, 😔 beneath doubt, 🌫️ beneath the long ache of unanswered prayers, 🙏 there is a memory your soul refuses to forget: 💫 You have been here before. 🔄 You have stood at a closing door 🚪 and thought it was the end. 🌑 You have watched the road disappear beneath your feet 👣 and still found another path. 🛤️ You have cried in the wilderness 🌲 and discovered you were not alone. 🤍 The miracle did not always arrive early. ⏰ Sometimes it came at the edge of enough. 🌅 At the final hour. 🕛 The last breath before dawn. 🌄 The moment you were certain you could not take one more step— and then, somehow, you did. 👣✨ Maybe this is what faith really is: 🙏 not smiling while the storm rages, ⛈️ but continuing anyway. 🫂 Not loving uncertainty, 🌫️ but refusing to let it define you. 🦋 Not knowing the ending, 📖 yet choosing to keep writing. ✍️✨ So if you are weary, be weary. 😮‍💨 If you are angry, be honest. 🔥 If you need to rest at the side of the road, then rest. 🌿🛌 But remember: The waiting is not proof you have been forgotten. 🕊️ The silence is not absence. 🤫✨ And what you cannot yet see is not what is not coming. 👀🛤️ Look behind you. 👀🔙 Every impossible place you survived. 🏔️💪 Every door that opened only after you let go. 🚪✨ Every page of a life you once thought would end too soon. 📖🌱 This is your evidence. 🔍 Not hope without reason. Not comfort without truth. Evidence. ✨ You have already lived through what once felt unlivable. 🌊🫶 So if the answer feels delayed, ⏳ it is not denied. It is arriving at the exact moment you are finally ready to recognize it. ❤️👁️

A sweet little birdie (aka @Rebecca B) told me that July 17th is @Zor Zen Den is celebrating his birthday and as Rebecca wrote ... it's the 17th already in some parts of the world. Time to flood the field with love, appreciation, and gratitude for our friend, mentor, and Master Signal Operator, Zor. Zor, we're starting early and want to be the first to wish you an incredible day. Your signal is strong and I absolutely love you for your guidance, generosity, and gifts you share with all of us. Portal Pals, your assignment if you wish to accept it is to drop one TRUE SENTENCE about Zor in the comments.

When we gather at our family reunions, we share memories, tell stories as we remember them, and others fill in the gaps. And sometimes I make up stories, like telling my cousin that my biological father never came to visit us after we came back from France. And she said, "Oh no, honey, he came to see you girls when you lived with us in Chase." I was three and spent my life thinking he never once cared enough to see us again. Family reunions help us gather the truth with older cousins lovingly sharing their versions of stories our younger minds skewed up. My grandparents had 16 children from 1909 to 1934 and now there's 432 descendants. I kid you not. My cousin, Gwen, has done an incredible job tracking, researching, and systematizing our family tree. She told us during our last reunion that Fred Astaire was a distant cousin. I asked again, and Gwen told me he was a cousin 10-times-removed. It's no wonder I love to dance. I can't sing or play an instrument, but there's lots of musical talent in our family. We had about 45 family members representing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd cousins. My one remaining Aunt Muriel wasn't present as she's about to turn 100. She was born on September 1, 1926. Imagine. Her daughter, my cousin Donna and her husband, drove from the east coast to join us and visit her Mom. 5550 km from her door to where her mom lives. The oldest picture is my Great Grandfather, Wm Benson, and Great Grandmother, Amelia Thankful Ball (our lineage connects us to Lucille Ball, a cousin 7-times removed). I laughed when I first saw that I had a Great Grandmother with the middle name THANKFUL. Next is my grandparents with all 16 kids, and my Mom is front and centre. In 1976, my Mom and I flew out to Chilliwack, BC when I was 18 for our first family reunion. My mom is in the dark blue dress with her remaining brothers and sisters. And finally, the 1st cousins. One of my younger cousins kept insisting that I didn't belong in the photo, as I wasn't a first cousin. I assured her I was and she was surprised I was her Dad's cousin, not hers. My Mom was the youngest and had nieces and nephews older than her. I called them Aunt and Uncle when I was little even though they were cousins.

Our family comes here for a reunion every two years and the lilies at Dutch Lake spread. The loons call and the frogs seems to answer. It is glorious and peaceful and I want to share this piece of paradise with you. My Mom was the youngest of 16 children, and one remaining aunt is turning 100 this year. There are currently 432 descendants from my Grandparents, and 46 family members are here this weekend. I love our family history and all the stories we share. I have a great grandmother whose middle name is "Thankful." One of cousins has been passionate about our family's geneology. Lucielle Ball is a cousin 7 times removed. My great grandmother with the middle name 'Thankful' was a Ball. And somehow Fred Astaire is related to our family. This video has two of my favourites places: Dutch Lake and Kelowna, BC. Where is your piece of paradise?