March 8, 2026 – An Unusual Weekend

Can you call it a “hat-trick” of wonderfulness? Here are a few photos of some folks from the Lower Mainland who reached out to me as they were passing through or visiting Prince George. I think what was so wonderful about each of them reaching out was, they just wanted to connect and say HELLO. As strange as it sounds, they made no mention of their work and what they were doing in Prince George and beyond. I did not really find out what they were doing here in the Central Interior until was met and had a conversation. IT WAS AMAZING!!

Normally, my weekend is OPEN. I’ve been trying to honour rest as part of my weekly routines (much like this blog post) and Saturday is “be a person day.” This day often includes recycling, laundry, vacuuming, organizing my office, cooking a meal or two, and cleaning up the kitchen. Or sometimes, I do nothing. It’s a guilt-free day. Sunday can be a “be a person day” but it is normally a day I sleep in and transition into the work week. Maybe emails and some planning. This term, Sundays were mostly spent prepping for my Monday classes. I’ve had the last few weeks free from the prep due to practicum and Family Day.

This week, I was blessed with visitors. During the week, my friend, Carolyn Roberts (photo above) was presenting at the ‘Ut’loo Noye Khunni – Weaving Words Celebration. She reached out to connect. I did not think I would be able to with my teaching schedule but I had some of my days wrong, and I had Monday off from teaching. We went out for dinner on Monday and I got to see her present on Wednesday. It was so great to see her. I loved our conversation over dinner. Lots of laughs. I loved her presentation at PGSS. I went with my daughter (also in photo above). We also went to the evening event at Omineca Art Centre to listen to drummers and other artists. I was so grateful to see Carolyn this week. I often use her TEDx video in my teacher education classes and I have used her book “Restorying Education” in one of my grad classes. I love what she has to say and she’s releasing her new book, “Tess’s Red Dress.”

On Saturday, which would normally be a “be a person day” was jammed packed with activities, so much so, recycling this week did not get done. The day started with grad photos with my kid on campus. She looked great and I cannot wait to see how the photos turned out. I have a few favourites in terms of the props permutation of cap, gown, parchment, and stethoscope. I cannot believe that she is graduating soon, and seeing her in a cap and gown (with hood) made it much more real. I’m not sure where the 4 years have gone, but she has made the most of her undergraduate experience, and I’m glad she lived with me during this time. She’s made my experience in Prince George joyful and fulling.

Saturday continued with a visit from my friend, Reema. She teaches at SFU and was giving a talk about “women and reading” at Books and Company. We met up soon after photos (and changing back into my hoodie). She knows a few other folks on Prince George, so she wanted to tour the university. We had an incredible chat about higher education, our careers, and next steps. I was so fascinated how similar some of our experiences were and I appreciated her kind words of calling me a “positive person” and that I needed to continue “the fight” for folks like her. I was inspired by her optimism and realism. We could have chatted all day. She has got an incredible sense of space and direction. I was a bit wowed. We visited my place, went to DandyLines and Zoe’s Coffee house.

Now, I’m running late. I am so grateful that Grace waited for me to say hello. Her patience is her superpower. I did not realize that she was not staying in Prince George, but was driving through after flying in that morning. UGH. I feel terrible. We had a wonderful chat and it was fun to connect and get to know each other better. Her generosity and kindness did not go unnoticed. I am so appreciative of our conversation and I feel that we are more aligned than anticipated. More often, emails do not do justice. Zoom might help to make a better connection, but nothing beats meeting someone in person to get to know one another. Thank you Grace for making the connection, for lunch, and for the conversation.

Grace did wish me well on “be a person day.” I was a bit combobbled by the scheduled activities during the day, even though connecting with folks is a good thing. I did head home to rest and take a nap THINKING that the rest of my day was free. Luckily, as I was rolling over to look at my phone, by chance, I looked at my calendar. GAH. It was 5pm, and I had invited three teacher candidates to my place to work with them to prepare for the WestCAST 2026 Conference Proceedings. These teacher candidates presented at WestCAST 2026 at the University of Winnipeg last month and undergraduate and graduate students who presented have an opportunity to publish their work. These three teacher candidates wanted to publish their work, so the conference proceedings (which is NEW for WestCAST) was an excellent opportunity, but it’s new territory.

In a staggered way, we wrote their abstract for the conference proceedings. It was announced that they would have an extension to the first draft of their paper, but what was required in the meantime was the title of the presentation and their abstract. The week extension involves submitting the manuscript. I really enjoy working with undergraduates on this kind of work. Research is new to them and the WestCAST 2026 conference organizers from the University of Winnipeg intended to create this opportunity for students, much like how they organized the conference itself, which really felt like a conference for research. I supported them in their writing and provided feedback where I could. I wanted to leave my place with an abstract they could submit ASAP because they are still in practicum and likely time and effort could not be afforded to continue writing.

After a few hours of working with the teacher candidates, I was on “designated driver duty.” I drove my kid and her friends to the restaurant and took some time to REST, but also clean the kitchen, vacuum the main floor, refill containers with food, clean the fridge, and tidy the main floor of my place. It was kind of a mess. I did not want to “work” but could do some household chores before picking up my kid and her friends. Yup. I went to bed at 1am. And yes, it’s daylight savings and lost an hour of sleep. LOL. I went out for breakfast with my friend to a new place I’ve never been too, and it was delicious. I wrote about that experience in my other blog, and then I met up with a former teacher candidate for coffee. This former teacher candidate, now teacher, was at Carolyn’s session on Wednesday and we made plans to catch up. We talked for 4 hours!! And, I missed Reema’s presentation (not knowingly). Apparently, it went well. Yay Reema!! Time just flew by. I walked away from that conversation also inspired. I needed to do that.

The weekend ends with a plate of dumplings and a diet Coke, a quick Costco shop with my kid, and picking up some sushi for a late dinner. I was not super compelled to jump into work (with exception to accepting a paper to review). I made a list of things I need to do on Monday, took a shower, got ready for bed… and then, started writing my weekly blogs and reflections in the middle of the night. #ClassicChristine The cat is not happy, but I am blogging on my bed. It’s now 2am, I’m done, and I feel very happy about the week and weekend. 🙂