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Monday Apr. 27, 2015


A weekend of surprises. I bid tactically on three items at the silent auction and came away with my desired spoils. I found a surprise or two with one person that taught me a good lesson. I met someone else who changed my viewpoint on something. Surprisingly simple.

My weekend was a win-win-win on many fronts; seeing old friends and meeting a few interesting new ones, seeing some people flub, flounder and fail to achieve their goal while also seeing others leap far over the high-bar, inspiring so many.

Nothing can prevent us from disappointing surprises (but those little-shocks probably save us wasted time/angst we’ve now cheerfully avoided), but something can prevent us from enjoying the happy surprises. If we aren’t looking for them, we won’t see them. If our ears aren’t open, we won’t hear them. If our minds aren’t open – if our emotions aren’t open to feeling them, we’ll miss them completely.

Surprises surprise me surprisingly.

Every time something spontaneously occurring, those special moments that warm me up unexpectedly – stun me.

I know I should always be prepared to expect the unexpected – and believe me, I truly thrive on that edge of my seat thinking quite often when, without warning, some event or person captures my attention by their very presence, their words or their attention.

Conversely, I often find a reverse-kind, perverse kind, of having expectations of words or actions from someone and then finding they don’t say or do anything remotely like what I might have expected. This too is something I should know to expect but it surprises me still after so many years of interesting lessons.


Mark Kolke

column written/ published from Calgary, AB

morning walk:  0C/32F, fresh blue sky, fresh air and we hobbled down a familiar path – Gusta being patient with me, my knee much better from icing it but still paining. Next, I think some heat is called for … both for my knee and for a series of predicted warm days.


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