One of my sisters and her daughter came in from Banff. My brother and his wife drove in from the big city, Calgary. My mom, who lives in Joseph Creek Care Village in Cranbrook came up to spend the night.
After dinner we were all sitting around sharing tidbits from our respective, but different lives. Everyone was involved - especially my mom, even though she is coping with serious loss of hearing and other chronic conditions. Mom was beaming - completely surrounded with the love of her children and grandchildren. In the middle of all this commotion, one of my sisters pulled out her iphone and started to take head and shoulders pictures of selected family. Little did we know that she had an app on her phone that is titled the "fat booth".
Think picture booth in a mall and you get the idea. The only difference is that this app loads about 300 pounds onto your face. The outcome created a lot of sore stomachs - laughing so hard, while still trying to digest too much food. The pictures quickly circulated around the world to other family members, with the subtitle "I think I ate too much"!
Its the simple connections that are so healthy. As with many (so- called) primitive societies on this planet, the formula of happiness is simplicity and good old fashion togetherness, nothing more, nothing less. Kimberley is good at affording these simple things - how can we not with only one set of traffic lights in town. We love simple. Simple is healthy. Simple is part of the equation of vitality. It's also easy to come here from other locations. We offer no hassles on the highway, no congestion given that we are only 6000 in town, and once here everyone can take a deep breathe and relax.
The next day, my sister-in-law was busy making beautiful handmade bead bracelets with my mom. Predictably, they soon ran out of beads and my brother and I were voted best candidates to venture to the dollar store for a resupply. Of course we had no choice but to comply.
After shopping, we strolled across the street to the derelict garage that has been mothballed for years, and that was originally built by our father. Our father ran the garage for over 30 years as a successful business before selling it off and retiring. Times have changed, and now it sits - mothballed. My brother walked around the property reminiscing about the years we both worked there as high school students before heading off on different life journeys. Good memories from this place while learning a healthy work ethic, engaging on a daily basis with locals who needed gas and wiper blades and batteries and tires and...the latest news complete with a parting joke. (That was my dads specialty - all customers needed to be greeted with a smile, and leave laughing).
But now my brother commented that it is kind of sad how this all ended. The community has sensed the loss too. Maybe, just maybe, that can change. Because of the strict (and costly) environmental regulations virtually strangling the redevelopment of this key piece of downtown property its really hard to visualize different realities. But we need to see what can be. We need to see that the city might be able to broker change while respecting the realities of working class owners. Nobody has an endless supply of money. The city needs to be an intermediary with all the various government agencies that keep the redevelopment of this property stifled. I see a beautiful park with a greenhouse and an urban garden. I see parents and their children mingling and enjoying an urban oasis playground. I see beautiful things happening on this property.
When I look at the mothballed, derelict garage what do I see? I see hope.
Darryl Oakley
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