It's Monday. Monday morning. In December. With her early darkness and her calling to me to slow down. That kind of December energy invites us into a different kind of noticing. Noticing the cold, and the crunch of the snow as I walk the dog. Noticing the way the kids throw themselves into the snow... Continue Reading →
Some seasons test your patience in ways you don’t expect.I knew a renovation would mean dust, delays, and a bit of inconvenience. I didn’t imagine standing in my home months later, no floors, no bathroom, no plumbing, waiting for work that still isn’t finished. We were told it would be done by mid-August. Then mid-September.... Continue Reading →
Have you ever lived through a renovation? Before we began ours, I seriously underestimated all that is involved. It isn’t only about walls and wiring. It’s about patience stretched thin, budgets stretched thinner, family togetherness becoming almost too much togetherness and the daily choice to keep believing in the vision beneath the chaos. During these... Continue Reading →
It is hard to explain why, though I am certain many others can relate, but there’s something about September that has always felt more like a new year to me than January ever could. Maybe it’s because I have spent so many years of my life driven by the school calendar. Maybe it’s the shift... Continue Reading →
The days are stretching just a little shorter now. The air, though still warm (and some days, oppressively hot), carries that subtle whisper of change. Summer is winding down, and with it comes a swirl of emotions. In our home, we are living right at the edge of endings and beginnings. The renovations around us... Continue Reading →
When I was nine years old,sitting in a Grade 4 classroom with a lined notebook and a freshly sharpened pencil,my teacher, Mr. Kressler, asked us to write a story:“If I could change the world.” Most of my classmates grinned wide and leaned in,ready to write about inventions and robotsand space traveland saving the environmentand becoming... Continue Reading →
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to belong. Not just the kind of belonging that comes from being in the right place at the right time, or having your name on a list. I mean the deep kind. The kind that settles in your bones when someone saves you a seat,... Continue Reading →
Yesterday, we made lunch in the garage. Well, truthfully we make every meal in the garage, but this was a purposeful lunch. Not just any lunch. This one was for the crew building our kitchen, the space that’s slowly taking shape behind sawdust and the hum of saws. And the crew that is here every day, working... Continue Reading →
This past Sunday morning, amidst the dust and echoes of renovation, with one kid at a friend's house and the other working, my wife and I escaped to Heeman’s for a little impromptu date. It felt like a small rebellion against the mess at home, a conscious choice to press pause on the chaos and... Continue Reading →
Right now, the rooms are quiet. The furniture has been packed away, the floors are bare, and echoes bounce off the walls that once held stories, laughter, and shared meals. The dining table, the sofa, the lamps and books and dishes are gone for now. Carefully stored. Waiting. In the driveway sits a big steel... Continue Reading →
Years ago, when our life was a little more spontaneous and our house a lot smaller, my wife and I started something simple. Each week, we would invite people over for dinner—friends who were away from family, neighbours who had just moved in, anyone who needed a place to feel at home. We didn’t have... Continue Reading →
There’s a hole in the middle of our house right now.Not a little crack, not a creaky floorboard, but a real hole, dug deep into the earth, wide open where the concrete slab used to be. Okay, the hole isn’t enormous, but it’s jarring to see the earth exposed inside your office. It’s the kind... Continue Reading →
Christine Sharpe: Writer, Speaker, Leader . 