Morning Bike Ride

A Morning Bike Ride, Vancouver, April 27, 2025

It’s Sunday morning, April 27th, 2025. This picture was taken as I rode my bike along the seawall to meet friends for Brunch on the other side of town. It is a beautiful crisp morning. I stop to calm my racing heart. I take a picture of the Vancouver skyline in front of me. All is calm as my city of glass and steel basks in a light show of sunshine and reflections.

Before leaving home, I read the horrible news about an event that happened the evening before. The event was a street festival celebrating Filipino culture. A driver drove his SUV full speed into the crowd of festival-goers, killing 11 people and injuring many others.

Upon reading this, my first thoughts were about my daughter. She teaches at a secondary school not far from the location of the festival. Only two evenings prior, she had come over for dinner. The dinner conversation centred on her talking about her work and her students, most of whom are Filipino. It was clear from this conversation that she cared deeply for her students. I knew that it was almost impossible that some of her students would not be affected by this event. Having retired recently from 30 years of teaching myself, I worried about my daughter coping with this situation as I remembered the many students who enriched my life over the years.

My second thoughts went out to the affected families. As a parent, it is always difficult to imagine losing a child, especially to such a senseless act.

My response to this event , my identification with the victims, and also my thoughts going out to my own daughter, reminded me of the part of myself that changed significantly with motherhood, the depth of meaning experienced in the act of teaching, and also what I have left behind in retirement.