06-08 June -- Calgary with Enns Cousins

 We had an amazing time with my cousins -- Ed and Bert, Olive and Dan. These two couples live close to each other in Calgary, so though we stayed with Ed and Bert, Olive and Dan joined us every day.

Mostly we talked. We are all either retired or close to it -- semi-retired?? Mary Lou is the only one of us who is still working half time for wages. Our rental properties take some of my time so I consider myself semi-retired. So we talked about what this new chapter of life looks for each of us. 

All of us have done international service at some point in our lives so have had a taste of what it is to live in another culture and to be enriched by living in different countries. Olive and Dan facilitate their travel by "pet sitting" -- people who want to travel without their pets engage with people like Dan and Olive who will stay in their homes and take care of their pets. Often they have access to food and a car while they stay with the pets in the owners homes. Ed and Bert travel as well. And we make our yearly treks to Kenya.

We talked about our faith journeys and how our understandings of the world and God's involvement in the world has changed over time. Some of us have had very difficult experiences which have affected some of our values and understandings of people so we shared about those challenging times.

Our children and grandchildren were important parts of our conversation -- how we have learned that the rules have changed over time....nothing stays the same. We all feel good about our kids and how they are impacting people and the world in their own ways. How have their lives been impacted by how and where we raised them? 

We visited the amazing Inglewood Bird Sanctuary in the heart of the city of Calgary. It was a fantastic place to wander through the paths of this park together, chatting, looking for birds and enjoying each other's company. 

a Common Mesenger chasing a misguided young one

a Yellow Warbler

We reflected on how we've been a part of each other's lives from the very beginning. We told ourselves many stories from the past which formed and made us into the people we are today. We wondered how we communicated with each other over distance and found our way around the world without the devices we carry in our pockets which take up more attention than we want, every day!

We had many laughs too, played hand and foot, and said farewell enriched by the days together.