Terry Fox Memorial at CityPlace
The last three weekday walking days were on east-west routes north of here, so I was looking at my familiar southern route with fresh eyes today since it’s been nearly a week. I always notice the Terry Fox Memorial as I pass by this way, and as I happen to always go by on foot, I’m reminded of how enormous the challenge was for Terry Fox to run across the country with a prosthetic leg. I’m walking only a couple of hours on weekdays with two legs, I can only imagine the effort and pain it took to do this all day, day in, day out, one leg doing the work while swinging a muscle-less leg with every step. The enormity of this strikes me every time I pass by Terry Fox’s youthful face. He was an ordinary young man making extraordinary decisions and living them every single day, something any one of us can do.
I wish I could do the Terry Fox Run this year, but it happens to fall on the weekend I’m shooting a wedding up at Sauble Beach, where I’ll be stationed from Friday to Sunday. Maybe I’ll find a way to work in my own 1-person Terry Fox Run along Lake Huron! [Update: I just signed on for the Terry Fox Run in Port Elgin and set up a sponsorship page! Please sponsor me!]
by the CN Tower
One of the reasons why I drive cancer patients as a volunteer is because it puts me in a mindset of gratitude in the morning. I drive people of all ages, from all backgrounds, many are immigrants to this country and sometimes have no-one here to support them during treatment. I’ve driven men, women, teenagers, a boy as young as five years old. Cancer does not discriminate. It’s a sobering thought, but that patient in the passenger seat may be me one day.
graffiti under the Strachan Avenue bridge
One of the reasons why I’ve been doing all this walking is because I have to take my health more seriously. I’ll be 40 years old next year. If I don’t take care of myself, there is no-one to take care of me. If I want to continue doing what I’m doing — working, photographing, travelling, etc. — then I have to do everything I can to maintain good health, to stave off illness and injury and hopefully disease. Being sidelined, especially during wedding season, would be more than inconvenient, it would wreak havoc — I don’t want to imagine if it was more serious than that. Getting pneumonia last December was my wake-up call, and this summer I finally answered: I’m eating better, and I’m much more active than before.
Liberty Village
