World pace to world peace/ buck starts here, may sound the opposite vision, but what can I say, I am a Gemini! Had literally run at world pace while a student athlete at UVic. Did trail rides for folk around the world for over 20 years. Not talking out my cowboy hat or my head, rather talking through my heart. Balance is key. In later years, a team mate then had memories of my stopping mid run to pick berries. A teen friend as an adult shared memories of my jumping and running off of a horse to grab some. The teen friend would say i was like a centaur. I grew up travelling as part of a military family, but my father retired in Kelowna. I finally had the one dream i had always wanted, a horse and farm to live at, but University in Victoria gave my Olympic dream a great chance to be real. I can recall much of my departure from University studies and athletic goals. Truthfully, i started university with my Olympic dream as my only real objection. The school was a way to get there. I was federally funded as an Olympic hopeful that combined with scholarships to take care of my financial needs while training and studying. I just had to run and make decent grades. I had won a premiers athletic award of $2500 for the combined athletic, community academic accomplishments. I could see potential in many fields but ultimately, i was not comfortable with the publicity (public speaking) and didn't want to go to school for the length of time I would need to be able to do what i learned i really wanted to do. My teen friend had shared that the stable times together were her best memories. She had been abused while I first new here, and the horses and I were where peace / fun place to escape her home nightmares. I had only remembered happy scenes of her family and her, so that was an insane awakening for me. She shared this the summer after my mother had died of a heart attack, when i was to enter my grade 12 year. While at university, my father had wanted me to sell one of my two horses and had sold a few of his to a family that had ridden regularly. I think i intuitively knew that i would lose the only stable home/ family that I had ever known, if i pursued my Olympic dreams, so worked towards the stable one instead.

I had basically grown up a single child because my brother was 12 years older. I think he helped protect me from many of the challenges he had been raised with. He gave a great bar for any future guy friend to make, because he taught me not to be intimidated by size strength or gender by pushing me, yet never really hurting me. I have tried to be that for others. I'd love to talk with him more about his challenges as a child, but he passed of a heart attack only a few years after he too had retired from the armed forces. Ironic that it was my realizing he might not come home from his missions over seas that put my goals of trailriding to be in the area of peace through tourism. I had wondered what i could do to help him and i realized that if you are friends with someone, you are less likely to want to fight them. I share this because our biggest challenges are on the home front. This was the case with my teen friend and it seems to the case more than ever on many levels all over the world. Peace really does start with the individual, and the connections from there continue. Celebrating of individual , family and community accomplishments can bring comradery among individuals. Music and sport transcend politics and help bring peace, prosperity, and a sense of pride to individuals and communities. Promoting art and sport in our city along with academics can help bring health and wealth for generations to come.

I have had goals of a place to be made called Dreamer Stadium, and a Magic peace park for many years. I haven't really been able to share them properly. The dream has become bigger as my circumstances more challenged. Dreamer was my second horse and her story as i know it, is one for the books. Dreamer stadium will be better yet. Magic was a horse that was originally wild and from the south Okanagan. Magic and Dreamer both babysat many many riders during their lives. Sometimes words get in the way of real fun or peace. Discover Magic is a song that I made that I hoped would capture some of that ability. Let's be the peace we need to see. We can build this dream together and bring peace and prosperity to the valley first, and share it with the world though example.