Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone!

I hope you are able to spend some time relaxing with friends and family and are too busy having fun to be on the computer and reading this on Christmas day - I typed this ahead of time and scheduled the post for Christmas morning!

Thank-you to those who have been checking in regularly and providing excellent feedback.

Have a safe and fun holiday.

Christmas- A Needed Break

Maybe it was because it was the 9th exam in a week, or the accumulation of a 2 1/2 year mental marathon, but I was humbled by the difficulty of the questions on our final Botanical Medicine exam yesterday. I absolutely love Bot Med and it is never just about passing the course for me, so after the exam, I actually pulled out my notes and looked up the questions that I could remember.

I do need to put the books down for a while and celebrate because myself, and everyone of my colleagues, deserves to take a break and look at how far we have come. It doesn't seem real yet but, we have just finished the last set of Christmas final exams we will write for this program, since next year at this time we will be interns.

It is only 4 months now until clinic starts...where has the time gone?

Have a safe and healthy Christmas holiday everyone.

Virtual Substitutes

The phrase, "Now that is a day at the Park" brings a lot of things to mind. For me, spending the day in front of a coloured, flashing box in the living room was not very high on the list. Yet, with Christmas approaching, and toy marketing fever beginning to peak, parents are lead to believe that the Fisher Price Smart Fit Park constitutes a day in the park. I don't mean to pick on Fisher Price particularly, as there are certainly other companies and some Fisher Price toys are valuable.

Unfortunately, I find a belief in Toronto that indoors is safer and cleaner than the outdoors. Neither are true and indoors is most likely contaminated with many times the level of toxic substances (carpets, laminate floors, glues, paints, plastics, air fresheners, cleaners...) than the outdoors.

This brings to mind an evening tobogganing with my son last year. Several other parents from the neighborhood came with their children and I heard one ask, "how many years have we lived here and never used this hill?" Simple, healthy, inexpensive pleasures right on our doorstep but too often traded for a virtual substitute.

When buying gifts this Christmas, evaluate the consequences your purchases will have on others. I believe that with some intention, we can all make better choices.

Quote of the Month

�Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience"

Ralph Waldo Emerson