Va Va Voom

Va is celebrated by the Samoans as a relationship that consistently defines and redefines itself in the space between two people, places and things. It is considered by the Samoan culture as a unique entity that contains unspoken expectations and obligations. Va is the inherent and changeable patterns of obligations and expectations between people and their environment.

A friend who has had direct experience with the people of Samoa brought Va to my attention. She explained that our North American sense of relationship has a great deal to do with how we feel about another person’s impact on you, while in the Samoan culture, the Va space is viewed as the stage upon which all patterns carry meaning. Each person is responsible for the condition of Va and so whatever meanings are held within Va are the responsibility of the person who put them there.

I love the way the word sounds and the tender vibration it produces on my lower lip. I’m learning to use it in my everyday conversations with people. I hope that Va can help me with my relationship with my son, reinforce my love for my husband, express gratitude toward my friends, and bring my passion for God to front of mind.

Vā is the space between, the between-ness, not empty space, not space that 

separates but space that relates, that holds separate entities and things together

in the Unity-that-is-All, the space that is context, giving meaning to things.  The 

meanings change as the relationships/contexts change.

Albert Wendt 

Alleyways are Appealing

I LIKE THAT there are so many back alleys in Campbell River. They run north and south and offer interesting passages from one avenue to another. Some are paved while most are covered with gravel and dirt. It’s the various views that are most engaging when Frank and I take our daily morning walk. Our journey south presents us with a variety of curiosities. A woman walks her dog on the paved path and the little thing leaves the cutest footprints. Further down the lane, where the terrain changes to dirt, it is clear that a heavy vehicle has travelled before us.

What we view from the lanes is very telling. A sign indicates a bump somewhere along the path, graffiti by attention-seeking people tells that they’ve been there, a pile of rocks that looks like a cairn is more likely a stack of rocks, an abandoned bike camouflaged in the grass belongs to the person looking for it, and a precious red tulip determined to show itself among a cluster of weeds and branches is a runaway sprout from the flower garden on the other side of the fence.

Life is a pathway.

Appealing Passageway

Pathway Curiosities

One Honk and a Wave

“Are you picking up garbage?” the young boy said. He and his father walked toward me sipping on drinks in large paper cups.

I lifted my trash picker and pink bucket into the air, smiled and said, “Yes, it’s Earth Day.”

They walked past me while I carried on retrieving trash from the sidewalk and boulevard. I hum a happy tune as I grip the plastic handle of the garbage tongs and kick the bucket on the flat surface of the walkway. I like the way it makes me feel to be of service to my neighbours along the 350-metre trek I’ve adopted in the City of Campbell River. I asked a few friends if they would consider adopting a block, and twelve volunteers have now taken stewardship of areas throughout the city.

My singing was interrupted with a car honk and I raised my head just in time to see a wave. I shook my bucket as a response. It’s kind of people to recognize the need to tidy up – especially on Earth Day.

Happy Earth Day!

Hiking is Happiness

I LIKE THAT Frank and I enjoy hiking together. Today, we set off down 4^th Avenue to a path that eventually led us to our proper destination off 2^nd Avenue and McPhedran. The first few metres offered us a fork in the path, and without hesitation, Frank veered to the right. The most predominant smell for a while was the Yellow Skunk Cabbage, a delightful looking green and yellow plant that thrives in our Central Vancouver Island wet woods. The sound of rushing water alongside the narrow path was music to my ears as were the chirp of birds likely compelling their companions to be wary of the strangers in their midst. The fresh air was palatable. The spring air pushed its way through our nostrils and open mouths as we caught our breath at the top of a steep hill. Our mud covered path revealed a large print of a bear and I asked Frank if he had his hiking knife – he did.

The magnificence of the forest and all the life within is a wholesome beauty like no other. We are blessed to have paths throughout Campbell River that take you from one backyard to another and beyond. Wonderful!

Hiking we will go.

Yellow Skunk Cabbage - whew!

Bears like hiking too.

Show Me Your Papers

I LIKE THAT Frank and I manage an apartment complex that is designated a Crime-Free building,  which means that the property has undergone three levels of security supervised by representatives of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and that they have certified us as solid citizens.

Today, as part of my daily duties, I was pulling out cleaning supplies to use for the job, and I could sense a person standing behind me. I turned and saw a large man wearing a black t-shirt with a small company logo on the left hand corner. He was grinning.

“Are you looking for someone?” I asked.

“I’m looking for the telephone room,” he said.

“Who are you?”

“I’m from Telus,” he said. “I’m here to work on a telephone for apartment 203.” He asked me to let him into the locked room.

“Suite 203 is empty. Who are you here to do work for?”

“I think it’s 204 or 304, I’m not sure,” he said.

“I’m not sure who you are. Please show me your ID and papers.”

“What? Are you kidding me? I don’t have it on me. But, here, I’ll show you my driver’s license.” And then he pointed to the name on his shirt. “Can’t you tell I’m from Telus?”

“I could be wearing a Hooters t-shirt and I’m not from there. You’ll have to leave.” I waived my arm toward the exit door.

“Let me go to my truck and get my ID and the work order. OK?”

“That would be great.”

He performed as promised and returned with the proper credentials and paperwork. I recognized our tenant’s name and suite number.

“Wow! I’ve never been challenged like that before. Never in my fourteen years of working as a repairman. I’m a big guy but you had me jumping to attention,” he said.

“We love our crime-free building and we protect the people in it – including ourselves.”

Stand our ground, ladies. Stand your ground.

Show me your papers

Food, Frolic and Favour

I LIKE THAT our two friends, Dianna and Wendy, attended the Baha’i New Year celebration held on Wednesday, March 21, 2012. The quiz at the beginning of the celebration explained its purpose: to visit friends and relatives, celebrate with food and exchange gifts. Other facts about Naw-Ruz include its literal translation of new day, and that it’s an old Iranian celebration marking the start of the Zoroastrian new year.

Kindness permeated the celebration the moment we walked in. The hustle of putting the hall ready to receive friends and family was well underway with volunteers preparing the food tables, coffee and tea, placing live potted plants on tables draped in brightly coloured cloth. To add to the festive feel, there was a flying fish overhead being operated by a sweet young girl.

A good turn was captured by many of the attendees like when a friend asked another if they would like something to drink, or during the meal when plates were prepared for the children, and after we ate when volunteers unobtrusively slid utensils and dishes from the tables. Goodwill was celebrated in the kitchen also while hands dipped in and out of hot water, towels buffed dishes to a shine, and garbage was dealt with as a grateful errand.

Happy Naw-Ruz to everyone.

Baha'i Faith Website

Fun and Frolic

Live entertainment

International Women's Day

I LIKE THAT I stopped for a few groceries at a local market on March 8, International Women’s Day. It gave me that chance to speak to the checkout clerk and a male shopper about the celebration of women and how the day is meant to inspire women and celebrate achievements.

At noon that day, I had spent a glorious time having tea and sharing a fruit platter with other women at the Campbell River Women’s Centre. We sat around a large table and chatted about our accomplishments, so far, with our selves, children, husbands and family. One of the women wanted to know how International Women’s Day came to be and another explained that the idea and theme started in Eastern Europe and Russia around 1914.

“Women wanted to make a political statement about equality and wanted to have the same rights as a man. They marched in the streets and spread the word about human rights and how they wanted a say in how things should be run. In the United States, in 1908, women took the streets with placards telling everyone that they wanted the right to vote.”

I piped in with what I had learnt while I was teaching English in China.

“In 1949 the Chinese government proclaimed March 8 would be made an official holiday with women in China given a half-day off. We need the same thing to happen in Canada.”

The conversation continued in a playful and highly energized way. Some of us exchanged contact information and promised to continue our newfound friendships.

  

“The woman is indeed of the greater importance to the race. She has the greater burden and the greater work…” ~ (Abdu'l-Baha, Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 102)

Women are grrreat!