Tuesday, July 1, 2018
It's Canada Day and I'm in Ottawa with my family. I'm having a full on proud to be Canadian weekend. We are staying with friends who we love, and that is the perfect foundation for celebrating. Our weekend started with attending the sunset evening musical ride of the RCMP. Watching those horses and riders work together was very moving. I kind of thought it was like watching a horse ballet. Every horse had to be in the right place to make it work. When we all stood for the national anthem at the end it brought tears to my eyes. Thousands of people singing together in english and french just makes a girl feel connected and very proud.
On Saturday our daughter was attending a prom with her friend We were all invited to the "pre-pre" prom where everyone takes pictures and the parents socialize. Jim and I met many interesting people and eventually ended up sitting in a gazebo (wow, it was hot) with one of the friendliest men I've ever met. His son was graduating and he was very proud. He and his wife came from England 14 years ago with their two young sons. They love living in Canada and have never once questioned their decision to come. At some point we mentioned that we were from Haliburton and he said to us "I love where you live. I can't tell you how much I love driving in your area and listening to Canoe Fm.. That radio station is the very best. I think it represents the very best of Canada. I've never heard better community radio anywhere." And of course Jim and I puffed right up and took it as a personal compliment and went on to talk about all of our connections to the volunteers and staff of Canoe FM. There are so many stories to tell. The conversation made me think about the reputation that Haliburton County has. We are known for so many great things. Our arts. Our adventure. Our nature. Our caring people. Every one of the artists, at the opening of the new street sculptures last week, talked about how welcomed and taken care of they felt when working on this project. They will all go home and tell stories about their experience here. All of those stories are our greatest marketing tools.. We all contribute to our great reputation. What stories will people tell about you or your family or your business or organization this summer?