I was in Calgary yesterday for TSA’s HITC luncheon. It was probably one of the best I’ve attended. A great event with a very strong of attendance of near 700. Ron McLean was the speaker (and he was terrific) but he brought along Tyrone Smith. Tyrone was one of the team from Humboldt whose bus was hit by the tracker trailer. 16 team mates died. Tryone recovered from that and then went on with his girlfriend to enter Amazing Race Canada and won.

They sat on the stage and had a back-and-forth dialogue around sports, the accident, Ty’s work now around mental health and what it means to know “you’re not okay” and to seek help. Ron was the consumate professional and Ty was open, honest and, complimentary to the presentation.

They tied TSA into their dialogue well and had the crowd really engaged.

Calgary is a lovely city and one that we still enjoy visiting. We don’t get down as often as we thought we would but when we do it is lovely to visit the familiar areas, see the places that mark our history (we usually drive by the old house) and remember how often we cited our blessing of being able to live an hour from the mountains.

As I was getting into my hotel room and turning on the TV there was Murdoch Mystery and TSA on screen – with folks of course that we know well.

Yes, I took a picture of the TV screen!

oh, and one last note.

Ron McLean did tell a story about Don Cherry – Grapes as he affectionately calls him. Driving along a road to an event asked Don what his favourite song was. Then in a great impersonation of Don’s voice he says “ya know, that one about putting your camel to bed”.

Well here it is – Don’s song.