Two "Weekends Away"

The last couple of weekends Cory and I have traded as little weekends away. Last weekend Cory and his friends Anton and Malcolm hiked the Juan de Fuca trail. They had a great time, I'll try to get some pictures from him and post them.

The weekend before that I volunteered for the weekend at Operation Trackshoes. What a weekend!! This was my third year volunteering and I would definitely recommend this weekend to anyone and everyone. This weekend is a sports festival for the citizens of British Columbia who have a mental disability. Is is incredible. My favorite is watching the hurdles, people are so creative with how to deal with those hurdles in their paths. It is also great to see how everyone cheers on each other, just doing their best, however that looks. The weekend of Trackshoes it poured and poured and poured and as I passed one lady she looks up at me, rain dripping off of her plastic poncho and says, "I'm so happy. I don't know if I've ever been this happy, I'm so happy that I just can't stop giggling, I haven't stopped all day". Not only are there all sorts of Special Olympics style athletic events, there are fancy banquets, dances, karaoke. . . . The volunteer opportunities are endless and so rewarding. . . (there are about 600 volunteers to make this happen every year) there are track officials, counsellors, support staff and nurses (Jonathan I think you'd love this event and you'd be the first male nurse!! You should come next year June 13-15 2008, think about it!!!) Also, for my friends out there who could be competitors in this event, do everything you can to participate, it would be the highlight of your year! So, despite having a morning wake-up call of 5:30am I really felt recharged to do my normal days at home again. Here is a link to a story run by the Victoria Times Colonist about Trackshoes this year.