Tomorrow...

It is with sadness and joy that I walked away today a retired 40 year old. I realized today that I gave 1/2 of my life to a company...correction, I gave 20 years of my life to getting involved with people I truly loved being around, in an industry that lives the motto "Feast or Famine", creating stuff that sometimes defies some of the natural laws of physics. Come on, tell me where else you can build a sign with grass that was air freighted in from Vancouver in April. Have you ever watered a sign before? (note to self...sod is brown when it arives off the plane...and no, spray paint doesn't work...we tried). Or how about building an electric hammer. Imagine shortly after 9/11 a client walks in and wants you to modify a claw hammer to have a cord attached complete with case and instructions as you find out he is flying to the US and taking it as on-board luggage as part of a presentation!  Needless to say, it has been a ride. As I say goodbye to an industry of plastic I helped create for the last two decades, I now look forward to the next two decades and beyond

Tomorrow begins with waking my wife with a kiss, starting the day with a shot of expresso in a mocha and helping direct our two kids with the day for homeschooling. Next comes our regular Thursday business meeting (Auds & I plan for the following week), followed by chores and a photo shoot. The afternoon is spent again, with our boys, an hour working on rebuilding a generator, followed by photo finishing for another client.

Tomorrow begins a new paradigm. From a life of less...to a life of more.

Tomorrow we die to our old "fast paced" city life and embrace clean, wholesome slow paced acreage life raising, tilling, and harvesting organic food that we can be proud to enjoy with others at our table.

Tomorrow we give up our consumeristic ways of wanting more and begin cleaning out the house of the things that steal our time, our money, and our joy of not being or having enough; realizing that God is enough.

Tomorrow we give up the utility grid...we trade in dirty coal fired power delivered from a plant 400 km from our house, Natural gas piped 600 km from here, and treated water laced with known carcigens. Instead we become farmers and oportunists; We harvest our power from the wind and the sun. We use it to not only power our house, but to heat our water. Tomorrow we work on using wood destined for the chipper to heat our house next winter, and tomorrow we start capturing the rain that falls and purify it for drinking without the use of chemicals.

Tomorrow we simplify our lives and give up the comfort of a paycheque; we are getting off the hamster wheel and, in turn, we gain a life of far more.

May you follow your dreams!