Category: steveston

July 22 – U

On By randysanghaIn 2016, 365 days, 365 days of gratitude, 80s, 80s music, accounting, aging, appreciation, art, aunt, babysitting, back handed gratitude, bc pavilion, beauty queens, blue collar, bonds, Bootlegger, brother-in-law, brothers, bullies, burnett, canada, charlies angels, classroom, clone club, coaches, confidence, cousins, cyberworld, dad, daughter, David Bowie, delta kappa epsilon, Disney, doctor, education, elementary school, england, entertainment, ethnicity, europe, extended family, facebook, family, females, first impressions, football, former student, fraternity, freud, friendship, Gilligan's Island, golden years, grad date, grade 12, gratitude, gratitude blog, growth, gym, happiness, high school, Hilary Duff, hockey, hockey dad, I Dream of Jeannie, iggy azalea, india, Indian, indo-canadian, inlaws, inspiration, instagram, internet, landlord, learning, librarians, life, mariah carey, McDonald's, mcnair, mental health, mentors, Miss India, Miss Universe, mothers, mulder & scully, mumee, music, neighbour, new westminster, niece, nursing, orphan black, outside comfort zone, parenting, photography, plus sized, Pokemon Go, pop culture, Prince, professors, psychology, punjabi, Quebec, queensborough, reality tv, religion, renters, reviving ophelia, Richmond, richmond high, robert bateman, robin thicke, role model, rome, sarcoidosis, schizophrenia, secretary, senior citizens, separation, service providers, sesame street, sibling, Sikh, sister, sisters-in-law, son, soul mate, speech pathologist, sports, Star wars, steveston, strangers, student, student teacher, students, Survivor, tatiana maslany, tattoos, taxes, teacher, teaching, technology, teenagers, tenants, thanks, the truth is out there, therapy, Thompson, Thompson Twins, top model, trans, true to yourself, tyra banks, Uncategorized, uncle, Universite de Laval, Universite Laval, vancitybuzz, vanessa williams, walking dead, weight loss, westwind elementary, white boys, wife, witness, women, xfilesLeave a comment

363/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me.  Wow, only 3 more gratitude posts left including this one!!  When I started this journey a year ago, I was a little nervous as to if I would have 365 people to thank.  I didn’t want it to come down to posts such as thanking my mailman for the flyers he delivers in that they were the ones that led me on to some awesome deal!! ; )  Early on in these posts, I started hearing from friends that so and so had made “the list”.  I didn’t understand what that was until I was told that it was my “gratitude list”.  That put some pressure on me to say the least as there was now a “list”.  I didn’t want it to be a list and I didn’t want it to be some type of contest.  Then I heard that some people mentioned they were in the 80s and others were in the 200s!  I do have to make it clear that I haven’t had an order as to who I thank and thus whatever number gratitude post it was has no relation to ranking.  Most posts are the night before or a couple of days before.  Yes, I saved my dad for his birthday as I did with my children for theirs, my mom was first because well she is my mom but save for them and the final two gratitude posts, no one had a day or a number.  The list by the end of Sunday is far from complete.  I could thank another 365 people who got me to where I am today and this is what today’s gratitude post is about – to all of the people I didn’t name and there are hundreds of you that have impacted me!  So many former students, co-workers past and present, family members, inlaws, bosses, professors, fellow students, random strangers, neighbours past and present, friends, backhanded gratitudees (bullies and the like), service providers, celebrities etc, etc – just so many people who have made me who I am and to all of you un-named in this past year, you are part of this gratitude journey just because you were not personally mentioned here doesn’t mean you weren’t recognized by me.  To all the new people that will come in to my life, thanking you in advance as some of you will change and influence me in new ways.  Thank you to all of you who came along with me on this 365 day journey as well.  Your encouragement and support has gotten me to this end point.

May 16 – home sweet home

On By randysanghaIn 2016, 365 days, 365 days of gratitude, appreciation, assistance, domesticity, family, gratitude, home, life, real estate, steveston, thanks, UncategorizedLeave a comment

296/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me.  Home is where the heart is – okay, I have absolutely no clue what that means and I am too lazy to look it up on Google but my interpretation is that you gotta love where you live?  I was born in New Westminster and grew up in Richmond.  I lived in my family home until I got married.  My parents moved out into another home and under the condition that my wife and I looked after the home and the rental suite and took care of all the expenses, taxes etc, could live there rent-free.  What a great gift to start us off and very much appreciated until eventually the decision was made to look for our own home.  My mom recommended her friend’s son who had just got into the field of real estate and not knowing anyone, we decided to go with Yash.  We told him what we were looking for with the caveat that we had to find a place in six months as we were pregnant with our second child and didn’t want to do any moving close to the date of arrival.  Yash was amazing and with our restrictions for a home, narrowed down the choices but nothing came near our expectations and we did a lot of hunting.  I felt bad as we decided at the end of December 1999 that we were done looking for at least a year.  Then the third week of January (two weeks before Ethan’s due date), Yash phoned and said he found the perfect home – brand new, in an area of Steveston that was being renovated but just slightly over our price range (our cap was $375K – yes, I know!!!).  My wife said no – there would be no way it would meet our needs and I was there with her until Yash said to just take a quick look.  And that was it – he changed our life!  It was the home!  White picket fence.  Neighbours waving to you as you cut the lawn.  Neighbours meeting outside for a drink.  Parties with the neighbours.  Kids becoming life-long friends with neighbours.  Kids going to a public school referred to as Westwind Academy 😉  Swimming pool, bar, library, bar, restaurants and did I mention bar within walking distance.  Everything we wanted and more all because Yash knew this was the home!  We made an offer and it was instantly accepted and we were home owners moving in a week later and Ethan being born the following week – yes, crazy and I could not imagine doing that with the knowledge I have now but it was supposed to be but all because of Yash.  Yes, he left real estate soon afterwards for a law enforcement career but he was meant to have been our real estate agent in that moment and get us into this house.  Thank you Yash for insisting on seeing this home in the Duns and becoming a part of this community!  Without you, I would not have become a Stevestonite and enjoyed this lifestyle!