Remembering Arlynne

The best purpose of your life

Is to live your life

So that the purpose of your life

Out lives your life

Today there are many people remembering Arlynne Holyer, I remember her as a ray of sunshine in our school and a dedicated Christ follower.

 

          Arlynne passed away on a missions trip two years ago while she was dirt biking.  I first saw it on Facebook (that is the most efficient way of spreading news) and I didn’t believe it.  I thought there was a girl in my class with that name but I  couldn’t, quite honestly didn’t want to, believe that it was her so I resorted to Google (that is where you go to confirm something right) and discovered that it was true, I went numb.  Death is a part of life, I had experienced my grandmother suddenly passing away nine months earlier but it was a totally different feeling when it is a class mate, someone just like you, whose funeral you are attending.  Arlynne was doing great things, I had heard her talk about a missions trip to Montreal that she had taken the previous summer and how she was excited to go on another one over the summer for a 8 weeks to different communities to do different activities.  I knew she was going to do great things in life.  After hearing about what happened I couldn’t wrap my head around why God would take someone doing such great things for Him and His kingdom.  Going to her funeral was proof of how many people she had already impacted in her short, but very well lived sixteen years.  The service was beautiful and the main thing I took away was that life is short and nobody knows how short, so live each day sharing your passion to its fullest. 

          As young people, kids, teenagers, we think we are invincible, unshakeable, nobody can stop us.  Being invincible can be bad if we put ourselves in danger trying to do crazy stunts but can also be good when we use it to change the world around us.  Arlynne had a firm faith in God and she wanted to share that with as many people as she could.  From reading notes to keep family and friends posted online as to what she was doing it while on missions was easy to tell she loved what she was doing and that she wanted to, and probably would, do it for the rest of her life. I found it inspiring to know that even as a sixteen year old we can be making a huge impact on people’s lives.

http://vimeo.com/27251151

The link is to a clip of Arlynne’s baptism video, it is amazing to hear about the transformation in her life and what God was doing in it to make her who she was and how she was giving back to Him and the community around her.

          With Arlynne leading by example I think we should find our calling and start living our lives right now, not wait until we are older, when we think we will be wiser and more people will pay attention to us.  People are paying attention right now, you may not know it, but what you do and say, how you act; people are observing it and they might not even realize it.  Seeing the response on Facebook and going back to school in September after a memorial assembly for Arlynne, the little stories of moments people had with her, and how they remember little things about her was incredible to see. I remember watching her during a worship chapel on a Friday morning at school and just seeing the passion and love for God and wanting to have the type of faith and relationship that she had with Him.  She had a great laugh too, it was one that you could hear down the hallway and know it was her, she always had a great smile on and just lit up any room she walked into.  Doing the little things like laughing, smiling, just having small talk with friends and people around you does have an impact and it is those little things are what people will remember you for. 

          What do you want to be remembered for? The answer to that question is what you need to start doing with your life.  Arlynne wanted to share Christ with people around her, she didn’t tell people her goal and wait until she was older or thought she would do a better job, she started right away.  We need to start making our mark in our city, community and world and start our legacy so others can see and be inspired to make their own.  Arlynne gave us a wonderful example of how to begin making a difference around us and we need to follow that example and continue passionately living life like her and keep her memory alive while we do it.  Like the saying at the beginning of the blog, we want what we do with our life to continue on after our life ends, Arlynne’s purpose and passion in life will never die, she lived out the best purpose, did it passionately and loved it and I want that for everybody else.

Sunsets

Lately I have been sitting on my front porch doing school stuff and writing blogs because it is just a lot nicer to be outside and let’s be real, in the summer nobody wants to be inside.  Tonight while I was sitting work on a different blog (spoiler alert, it is a song, by Green Day, that is in a musical) I caught some of the sunset, through the massive maple and apple trees in my front yard. 

I love sunsets, they are all beautiful, some more than others, but every single one is unique and special which makes me want to spend all of my evenings on a lake in the middle of nowhere watching them.  There are a lot of things that are beautiful, unique and special on Earth though; around 7 billion I think, I am sure it is more but the point is there is a lot.  Each person is beautiful, unique and special whether they think so or not, the main issue is getting a person to realize it about themselves.  My partial solution of the day is this, when you see a sunset and just stand, sit or lay in awe of it’s beauty think of yourself, you are just like the sunset. 

Sunsets are not just the sun though, without clouds and dark spots there would be no real beauty.  Through life there are struggles and dark spots but that is what makes up a person and without challenges a person would be left shallow so instead of being ashamed and try and hide show your real beauty of your true self. 

The little daily reminders that you are incredible, have a purpose, bring beauty like a sunset other peoples’ worlds is what are needed.  If you get the chance, remind yourself of a sunset or somebody else because hearing it from somebody else always holds a lot more meaning.  You are a sunset! J

Crazy Hair Day

Today was a big day, I cut my hair. 

I am not one to do much with my hair on a regular basis, it is regularly thrown up in a ponytail, I have better things to do, like write blogs, than do my hair so when I do do something with my hair it is a big deal, especially when it is donating it.  “Donating for what?” you may ask, “Why would somebody want somebody else’s hair?” true it sounds weird but if you are a cancer patient with no hair, having somebody else’s hair would probably sound like a good deal! This is the fourth time I have donated it and I still get nervous, I am extremely vain when it comes to my hair, you couldn’t tell by looking at it on a regular basis but I love my hair.  It is the super great kind that has natural highlights that tons of people pay to have and I learned last week that it is thin but I have a lot of it which is awesome.  I still don’t understand the whole thick hair, thin hair thing, I figured I had thick hair but apparently not.  Due to lack of understanding and knowledge as previously displayed I do not belong in the hair business at all, ever.  Today though after having it done a few times and knowing what I do and don’t like I went in feeling a bit better about having my hair cut.  My best friend took the first cut of the braid off my head, needless to say you can totally tell which braid she cut compared to the hairdresser, she will not take scissors to my hair again.  My hair turned out fan-freaking-tastic and is perfect for the summer, plus doing something for someone else always makes me feel good. So go for it, do something for somebody else, just a random act of kindness, see what happens J

Be Brave

Going along with the “face your fears”, be brave Sara Bareilles has a super great song titled, take a guess, Brave.  It is a great song and I totally forgot about it until I was bored on Youtube and procrastinating but it is incredibly catchy and makes me want to dance J

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUQsqBqxoR4 Music video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyAfjUHlFSM Lyric video

You can be amazing
You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug
You can be the outcast
Or be the backlash of somebody’s lack of love
Or you can start speaking up
Nothing’s gonna hurt you the way that words do
And they settle ‘neath your skin
Kept on the inside and no sunlight
Sometimes a shadow wins
But I wonder what would happen if you

Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave

I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave

Everybody’s been there, everybody’s been stared down
By the enemy
Fallen for the fear and done some disappearing
Bow down to the mighty
Don’t run, stop holding your tongue
Maybe there’s a way out of the cage where you live
Maybe one of these days you can let the light in
Show me how big your brave is

Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

Innocence, your history of silence
Won’t do you any good
Did you think it would?
Let your words be anything but empty
Why don’t you tell them the truth?

Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave
(3x)
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you

I will start with the song in general, I am a huge sucker for strings, piano, a solid beat and a great choreographed dance, which are all in the song! The fact that the song starts off with just a beat and then adds in solid chords to the beat, just great and super catchy and the song builds up perfectly to the chorus! I can’t even think of much more to say other than the fact it just makes me want to dance, so I will try to keep this quick so I can J

The video, just amazing.  It isn’t even like the people can’t dance, they all just have totally different styles and seem like very unlikely dancers.  I always love choreographed numbers, mainly because I can learn them and it makes me feel like a better dancer, Miley Cirus’s Hoedown Throwdown, that is probably the song I feel most confident dancing too. 

Lyrics, love them! I am going to start with the chorus just to shake it up a bit.  I love the challenge of saying what we really want to say because most of the time I think what we say and actually think are two totally different things, some people call it maturing, holding your tongue, lying, but sometimes it wouldn’t kill us to actually share our opinion.  The only example I can think of at the moment is telling the person you “like” (we really need a better word for that feeling) that you “like” them.  Totally cliché and I am not going to suggest you do that because I have never ever done that ever, I “liked” the same guy for 5 years in elementary school and I am pretty sure he knew most of the time but I never ever told him to this day, I doubt I ever will.  Plus it there is a lot on the line, though if there is nothing being risked it wouldn’t be considered brave.  That is why love is so crazy and awesome, you are completely trusting somebody else with yourself and they could easily hurt you but for some reason you believe that they won’t, insane stuff for a totally different blog.

I really need to dance but do it, be brave, tell somebody something crazy about yourself, give them the gift of going second and letting them know it is okay to share something crazy too J

Canada Day!

In honour of Canada Day I thought I would right a blog about the top 7 reasons I love Canada!

7. The flag!! It is super simple, except for when trying to draw a maple leaf, and I love the red and white.  Our flag is recognized all over the world and in most countries it is a total bonus to be Canadian and I have no doubt that some people fake being Canadian to be treated better.  Great to be Canadian!

6. The stereotypes! I am not sure that anybody else finds it great but I think most stereotypes associated with Canadians are hysterical.  We totally live in igloos and ride our pet moose, polar bear or dog sled to school every single day in a snow storm and after our chores consist of hunting for beavers, skinning them for pelts and selling them to the Hudsons Bay Co. That might have been a bit of an exaggeration but you get the general idea.

5. Tim Hortons. I am not a coffee drinker (trying to avoid that as long as possible) but I love my hot chocolate and donut (usually maple dip).  Roll up the Rim, best time of the year!!! I always know spring should be on its way when Roll up the Rim starts and a stop at Timmies before school starts is often the best way to start the day.

4.  Wendy’s! Along with most Tim Hortons there is usually a Wendy’s and the best dring/shake thing ever, a Frosty.  By far my favourite fast food place to eat and currently I cannot think of anything else to say about it except that I might want a baconator. Also best memories at Wendy’s is going with my grandparents and cousins and I was super hungry and ate a number 3 combo (3 patty burger, chocolate frosty and fries) my older cousin was quite impressed, I got a shout out on his Facebook status.

3. Attitude! We are often thought of as super nice, humble (not always), easy to laugh at and along with and apologetic. We are constantly apologizing apparently, which does occur, not all the time though but in general polite.  The other day while driving on the highway in the left lane I noticed a car going faster than me coming from behind so I moved over and as he passed he waved at me, can’t say I would ever expect that in any other country.  Today, coming back from Centre Island in Toronto we had to take a ferry back and there was not that much pushing as tons of people tried to get on one ferry.  I did complain a lot about my brother but he was just being annoying, totally an exception though.  Side note on the ferry though, we had to book it back to where we parked our car because they closed at 6 and had our keys and if we didn’t get them we would have to stay overnight and we landed at 6.  So my sister and I pulled an Amazing Race job and booked it, ran through crowds, leapt over gardens, managed to grab a coupon for The Wizard of Oz on the way and got our keys in time much to the parking guys amusement.  We showed up totally out of breath asking for our keys and then waited for like 10 minutes while the rest of our vehicle load got there.  We probably made his day.

2 and 1. I can’t decide which goes first and second so they both tie, hockey and rowing. I will just go alphabetically so nobody’s feelings get hurt.

HOCKEY!! I honestly do not know what I would do on Saturday nights without it (other than work maybe).  I am a Leafs fan all the way, I have taken many jokes and insults but have survived, mainly by ignoring them, but it works.  My work schedule always seems to conflict with big games but after I got home and found out they had made the playoffs, I did quite the dance, best news! I really could go on for a long time but hockey would not be the same without Hockey Night in Canada hosted by Ron Maclean and Don Cherry, I have some great stories about them but will save that for a different blog, they are incredible though, waiting to see what Don Cherry’s suit will look like, always work the wait.  Oh and Olympic hockey, crazy stuff, totally had a blonde moment the other day when in my brother’s room looking at his 2010 Vancouver games hockey poster and could not for the life of me remember who won the game in 2012.  I knew there were Olympics every 2 years and honestly thought I had forgotten apart of my life because I couldn’t remember who had won the crucial gold medal match.  Thankfully when I ran downstairs in a panic I had memory loss my dad nicely reminded me that it was the summer Olympics and that I had not missed the game, which leads us to the summer, well all year sport, of rowing.

ROWING!! I have never watched a sport that looks more clean, graceful and elegant in my life, though honestly I think it is one of the most painful sports ever.  I could also write forever on rowing but I will try to keep it shorter, it is an incredibly tough sport physically and mentally, I will give you a race run through of what I think it is like, you might get a better idea.  It is a 2 kilometre race and marked by a pylon (not a road pylon, a lot bigger) every 500 metres and a red (or different coloured) buoy every 250 metres with the last 250 metres all red.  There are different boat sizes, 8 people rowing with one oar and a coxie (they make calls to the rowers and steer), 4 people with one oar sometimes with a coxie, 4 people with two oars, 2 people with one or two oars and no coxie and a single person with two oars.   It may seem very confusing but I am sure if you Google it you will understand. Back to the race though, at the start of the race it is incredibly nerve-wracking until the horn goes and the race starts.  At the beginning there are a few short strokes and then about 10-30 really fast and powerful strokes, the start can sometime win or lose a crew the race but with all the nervous energy out at around 300 – 500 metres the boat has gotten into a steady rhythm and is making the way down the course.  Throughout the entire race there is focus constantly being drawn to the form, driving with the legs (people think it is an arms sport, it is not, it is mostly legs), finish strong with the arms, don’t fly up the slide (yep there is a slide track in the boat, it really is not as fun as it sounds), stay in time with the rest of the people in the boat.  Strategy is a huge part of the race because depending on when or if crews you are racing make a move your boat has to react to it, example, if it is heard or seen that a boat is putting extra strength into some strokes, your boat does the same for longer to try and hold them off or pass them, being aware of your position is crucial.  Mentally just keeping your body going for 2 kilometres is hard enough, one of my coaches always said, “Your legs will never give out on you, they hold you up every day, if you think you can’t finish or win though, then you won’t.” Or it was something along those lines.  Also most crews like to practice at like 5 a.m. which gets exhausting and being able to function mentally at that time is difficult.  Basically it is a lot of time and effort all year round for about an 8 minute race but finishing that race and medalling is the best feeling ever. I realize that was super long and didn’t even really get into any detail but I tried.

These are 7, but just some of the reasons that Canada is an incredible country and I am so grateful and blessed to be able to live here, the true North, strong and free!