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Lessons learned from a rickety DIY playground
(By Annie Gyg) I’m not sure as a kid I was familiar with the Aesop proverb “look before you leap”, but in the summer of my eighth year the meaning of that expression was unforgettably imprinted on my—I was going to say “brain”, but that’s not exactly right. It was my butt, actually. And it…
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Easy Come Easy Go: What My Honeymoon Taught Me About Ebbs and Flows in Life
(By Becky Martin) We had just gotten married. I was all of 25 years old; we had moved back to Canada from Taiwan after 2.5 years. We were young, we were in love, we had inflated egos, we could do anything. We had only been back in Canada for a month and we had no…
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The accidental purse snatcher: When good deeds go punished
(By Breckon Angulo) Sometimes a good deed goes punished … and that’s okay! This is a story that I laugh at now but at the time I was trying with every muscle in my socially anxious body to keep from crying from pure embarrassment. I live in Whitby, Ontario with my husband. My parents, from…
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Wandering wagon: Putting in that extra ounce of effort
(By N. Van Asch ) How many times in a day do you rush through your routines? Maybe you’re in a hurry or maybe you’re just bored of doing the same old thing for the thousandth time and just can’t be bothered to care. This is a story about three siblings who just couldn’t be…
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Mean, Mean Marge: Encouraging children to follow their dreams
(By Bryna Jones) Growing up, I wasn’t particularly athletic. Early failure in Phys. Ed. class (yes, I was the girl who was always picked last for the team) brought on a chronic fear of team sports, and physical exertion in general. I was quite content faking sick in the Nurse’s office during gym class while…
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The Legal Ramifications of Vomit: A lesson in perseverance
(By Rob Shirkey) It wasn’t funny at the time… I was so nervous the first time I was in court. Outwardly, I did well. I won. A senior lawyer even paid me a high compliment on my cross-examination. But while I may have looked composed, my stomach was in knots. I even threw up my…