Gwen and I have just returned from a quick road trip to the Fraser Valley and then a small lakeside area near Kamloops. Our main purpose was to reconnect with family members we had not seen for many years.
Perhaps I had been reluctant to reach out because I felt guilty about having allowed so much time to pass. But the visit reminded me of something worth sharing: if you have lost contact with people who were once important to you, don’t wait to reconnect.
People my age have lived through almost 1,000 cycles of the moon, and we won’t see all that many more. There comes a point when putting things off risks making reconciliation impossible.
Friends and family can drift apart for all sorts of reasons—pride, misunderstandings, embarrassment, or simply the passage of time. But when a relationship once mattered, it may still be worth recovering. Smile when you do it. You’ll likely smile afterwards.
There is no better time to act than now.
Categories: Smile
in-sights.ca 
That’s a good reminder, Norm. I’ve been putting off phoning a family member — so this gives me a kick to do it today.
I hope you were able to avoid a lot of the smoke.
Smooth sailing in your EV?
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Glad to hear that you’re reaching out to someone who was important to you in the past.
The Coquihalla Highway was thick with smoke, and Highway #1 through the Fraser Canyon was closed because of two major wildfires.
The EV experience. Well…this may be more than you wanted to know.
Our Mazda MX-30 has a relatively short range, but I had mapped out the trip, with stops at high-speed DC chargers that should have ensured we were never short of energy.
The plan began to unravel in Chilliwack. I intended to top up the battery there, but the Mazda refused to accept electricity from four different BC Hydro chargers, although I’ve used the utility’s stations successfully in the past. Their service desk said there had been a system change, and he suggested that Mazda had not caught up with its software. I went to the Chilliwack dealer on Saturday morning, only to learn that its sole EV technician works weekdays.
So I searched for a rental car. The only one I could find was a Chevrolet Trax. In retrospect, I probably should have gone to Abbotsford Airport, where there was a wider selection.
The Trax was not impressive. It was noisy, the interior felt low-rent, and its 1.2-litre engine was not particularly pleasant for highway travel. It was reasonably fuel-efficient and roomy, but those were about the only positives.
We completed our trip to the Interior in the gas-powered vehicle, returned to Chilliwack late Sunday, switched back to the Mazda, and drove home to North Vancouver.
Ironically, the experience did not make me dislike the MX-30. Quite the opposite.
The Mazda MX-30 is a great city car. A good used one can probably be found for less than $20,000. Its energy and service costs have been a fraction of what I used to spend for a gasoline vehicle. It is quiet and comfortable for two, and it is a pleasure to drive.
The problem wasn’t the electric car. The problem was being unable to depend on the charging system when we needed it. I’ve booked a service visit to the dealer to ensure our car has the latest software upgrade.
One other issue: BC Hydro’s latest DC chargers have very heavy cables that some people will be unable to connect without first spending a great deal of time in the gym. These station designers should ask their ageing family members to try using the new DC chargers.
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