Clifford The Big Red Blog

Skydiving

“GET ON YOUR KNEES.”

These are words you never want to hear from a man behind you. I had been sitting on my butt up to that point, nestled into the young stubbled Australian, his legs on either side of me. It was a confusing, yet also comforting time, knowing that he had done this before. As the plane continued to gain altitude my heart continued to sink deep into my gut.

The distraction was that we were filming a promotional video for the city of Abbotsford, British Columbia, and our emotional projection was to be that of excitement and euphoria.

ABBOTSFORWARD: the city’s official community plan. Stay here. Move Here. Build your business and family here.

Melting the Need for Validation

It's the New Year and I am in PUSH mode. I don't know why, but at the turn of every year there is this unspoken pressure and anxiousness about having goals and meeting goals. Last year I filmed a special and this year I need to SELL the special. Last year I had a full calendar and this year I need EVEN MORE!!! MARKETING, DO MORE MARKETING!!! But do I need to? Really? Even if I do... do I need to do it ALL right now?

This morning as I walked home from my weekly Bible Study with my father-in-law I took notice of the melting snow. It had been SOOO pretty with the sparkling ice and snow covering everything, but now it is raining and the gravel and the mud are exposed and mixing with the slushy goop and it's GROSS. That said, it had been so cold and my appreciation for the beauty was from inside. Even though the facade of perfection is gone, I am outside and it's warmer and the birds are singing and Spring feels much closer than it did a week ago. Even though the melt exposes the mess, the melt is good. Today my gross ravenous appetite for validation is exposed, but it's also melting along with the stress.

Han was not Solo

Friendship makes the world go round.

I served at the Abbotsford Food Bank as their Community Development Fella for a few years. It took me a little bit to get over the stigma that went with my name tag. I was the guy who wanted your money and time and also, I wanted your money. I felt like a mafia member walking into the bakery to collect my 'tax'. "No pressure on giving a donation, but I would hate it if anything 'bad' would happen to you and your nice shop here". Not menacing at all. (Note: I never threatened anyone).

To be honest, I did not love my role at first because I was not sure how to get over my sense of 'douchey-ness'.

But then, watching Star Wars Episode IV: the New Hope, my good pal Han Solo gave me a clue. Seriously? Yup.

2017 Good Reasons

My kids are learning wrestling. One of the parents in our school was a near Olympic wrestler and he uses his passion for the sport to teach kids. Pretty cool. Our kids - all 3 of them - told us - OUT LOUD - that they wanted to try. Super cool. The kids come home jacked after practise to scrap. Not as cool.

One of the big things that I noticed about how they engage each other is that they are often flat footed and swiping to grab their opponent. When theydo that, they are off balance and vulnerable, which makes it way easier for me to knock them down and elbow drop them... wait, what? To have success they are being coached to push into and through their opponent. It's called shooting. "Jo, shoot your sister!" When they do that, they are able to fully reach the challenger and apply their full force into a slick take-down move. Will they receive push-back? Absolutely! BUT, now they have a grip and with feet pumping, they can control the movement... at least that's the idea.

Jo Wrestle.JPG

I am not just another funny face... I thinks deep about stuff. This blog will be about comedy, faith, leadership, family, parenting, diversity and other things that get my noodle cooking. The hope is that the content will entertain & inspire each of us to ... now I am just babbling. Read it. Or don't.