Life is a highway

This past weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Halifax for business. It was my first time visiting the Maritimes; prior to this, the furthest east I had ever travelled in Canada was Montreal. It was pretty cool to experience many of the stereotypes associated with Nova Scotia first hand. The coolest of them all was how all the cars would stop for you no matter where you were crossing the street. You could just start walking across the street and traffic would stop for you; I felt like a Canadian Goose walking across Lake Shore Blvd in Toronto :). The eastern 'folk' are uber nice! Everyone says hello to each other, doors are held open and smiles are given to anyone and everyone. It truly was refreshing to be among such nice people with genuine personas.

One night my fellow coworkers said that I must not leave Halifax without a visit to the Lower Deck. The Lower Deck is an irish type bar right on the ocean, I'm sure if I could turn back time I would find fisherman and ship crew sipping away on their pints of beer chatting about their day at sea and catch of the day. The Lower Deck consists of long picnic like tables, a long bar and a tiny stage. Many great iconic Canadian bands such as Great Big Sea have shared their musical talents on that tiny little stage.

The night that I was there, a local band by the name Shameless was playing. They excited the crowd by playing many of the locals favorite folk songs. The pints of Keith's were flowing and the crowd was increasingly getting bigger and livelier. Towards the end of the evening, the band played the great Tom Cochrane song "Life is a highway" - the crowd including myself were singing along at the top of our lungs being swept away in the moment. I distinctly remember being lost in the moment as I belted out the words "Life is a highway, I want to drive it all night long" .... I got chills as I looked around the room and saw all of the smiles on peoples faces that were fueled by the power of the energy of the band's music. I immediately thought to myself, wow - life can be so good and I sure as heck want to keep riding on this path of life.

This moment reminded me so much about the importance of being grateful for the life we have, for enjoying the moments that we get to share with family and friends, and most importantly reminded me that sometimes you just need to get out and sing at the top of your lungs and dance like no one's watching.

So as you go about your day to day this week, take the time to reflect upon some moments that have caused you to stop and reflect about all the good in your life; or to remind yourself to stop should you find yourself in one of those moments.

For me, these moments and reflections remind me of why I continue to strive to be healthy, to make the effort to eat right, to get my butt to the gym even when I'm tired and my daughter is having a temper tantrum - it's these moments of loving life that remind me that all of the hard work I put in pays off in such greater returns.