Interview with Nicole

MP3 Download

01 – The Early Years
02 – Scott, then Brooke & Jada
03 – Family Times
04 – Thoughts & Reflections

Transcript

The Early Years

Rob:  This is Robin Heppell and it is December 13, 2011.  I am here with Nicole Thomson and Nicole Thomson.  Nicole is going to share some thoughts about life and things like that. So Nicole, why don’t we just start off from the beginning?  What’s your earliest memories and tell me about growing up in Vancouver and later into Maple Ridge.

Nicole:  Sure, I was born on August 1, 1970 as Nicole Suzanne Chartier.  I was born to great parents, Tony and Carol Chartier.   When I was born we were living in a little flat top house just off West Avenue in Vancouver,  memories driving into Vancouver were always happy when my parents would point out this little flat top house to me because it was always fun for me to see where I was born. We moved to Port Coquitlam when I was about a year old.  We had a nice little rancher house there.  It was a great little community.  We lived there until 1977.  All the kids on the street used to play and play and play – Always up and down the street.  Real 70’s, lots of freedoms and just great.

We had some woods across the street from us and we used to go there picking Pussy Willows and ever kid on the street would fall into the ditches down on either side of the street.  My mom always used to take great pleasure in that I was a bit of a Tom Boy and my friend Fiona was the perfect one with the perfect ribbon in her hair.  Fiona would never fall in the ditch but of course Nicky always fell in the ditch.  At first covered in Slime, those were some first, grand memories for me.

We moved to Maple Ridge in 1977 and my parents still live in the same house.  It’s great.  They take a lot of pride in the fact that we had roots set down and they are still there.  I can still go and the girls sleep in the room that used to be my room when we moved there.

I started going to school at Maple Ridge Elementary School, I have lots of good memories at the school and made lots of good friends.  I was just not so much on the sports team, shall we say.  I   used to play softball but was the most improved player at the softball which meant I sucked pretty bad and they felt sorry for me.  Typical.  Not really the team sports type of gal.  I had a lot of fun at that school.  Went through elementary school with no problems, I was always a good student.  I always had good marks at school, never had to worry about me.  I never had to try too hard which I guess I was very fortunate to not have to work very much.  It always just came easy for me, which was nice.  After that school I moved onto West View Junior High School which would be like middle school now for Grade 7, 8, 9 and in that year it changed to Grade 8, 9, 10 so we were the youngest for 2 years in a row and had 4 year in that school.  Met new friends at that point as the schools amalgamate so great memories from there.  Then went onto Maple Ridge Senior Secondary for Grade 11 and 12 in the big eighties.  Grad 88.  Big hair, big bangs, big bows, big blue taffeta.  My grad dress was huge.  Yeh, I was into all that eighties stuff.

Rob:  What about looking back on your school.  Who was your favourite teacher or teachers?

Nicole: Yeh, I really remember Grad 5.  Mrs Smith.  I always really liked her.  I remember my dad bought a big brown truck and I just couldn’t wait to tell Mrs Smith because she was always very kind and very caring.  She always stands out to me.  And then, I can’t even remember their names now, but the Biology teacher in High School, there are just certain teachers that stand out as people that you really admire and really like and subjects that you really like.  I liked the memorization type subjects so I really seemed to like those teachers because those were easy for me.

Rob:  What about favourite music?  How did you wear your hair?

Nicole:  O, boy – How I wore my hair and music.  Back in the eighties; permed , blond, very high bangs.  Lots of back combing.  My daughters would be so embarrassed if they would see me back then.  Music was the typical dancy type of fun music, had a diverse group of friends.  The preppy crowd which I would classify myself as would have all the funky type of dance music.  Then I was also a bit of a rocker chick so that is when the hair got even bigger and the acid wash jean jackets would come out and the glam rock stuff would come out.  The bandanas tied around the legs and all that really great eighties fashion.

Rob:  Cool, what about your friends?  Was there a group of friends that went right through from Elememtary, to Junior to Senior High?

Nicole: Actually, yes.  One of my first friends to back up to Maple Ridge; When we first moved in 1997 and there I am sitting on the side of the road without a friend in the world, we had just left all my friends in Port Coquitlam and 2 girls came riding around the corner on their bike and being the 70’s there was lots of freedom, mom says, “Sure you can go and ride your bike with these girls.”  We were best friends.

One of them is Karen Martin who is now Karen McComb and she is still my best friend to this day.  We have known each other for umpteen million years and she is a light in my life as well.  She is like a sister to me.  Right through she’s always been there.  All the way through elementary school, she moved away for a while and came back and got remarried so she came back with a different name, still in elementary school but when she came back we picked up our friendship and again and still to this day.  We are still in touch with a lot of my friends, Janet.  I met her in Grade 9 when we went to West View and we are still great friends today.  She was a maid of honour at my wedding.  Lisa, Anita and Terra (I met her in Grade 4)  Still good friends with all of them.

Rob:  Great.  What about while you were growing up, did you guys travel much?

Nicole:  We didn’t travel airplane travel but we travelled truck and camper or truck and trailer camping all the time.  We had great summer vacations every year.  Every year we used to travel all through the states down through Montana and Idaho.  We went to Yellowstone.  Just all these great, great vacations travelled back in Canada to Manitoba where my parents grew up.  I saw where my parents grew up just outside Winnipeg.  It was really great seeing where they grew up.  Camping every weekend – Fond, fond memories of camping.

Used to climb in the truck with the split rear window and climb into the camper when the camper was on top of the truck.  Those campers had the bit window across the front so you lay there staring out the front window.  Being as I am an only child, I would want to get away from Mom and Dad and what I considered hokey music at the time – Didn’t want to listen to that so I would go into the camper and do my own thing.  Many a mile there and great memories of camping trips and always in the provincial sites with the outhouses – Never all the amenities but always had great memories of fishing, we had an aluminum boat that used to sit on top of the camper and we would go fisher all the time, great trout for dinner.  I used to build fairies nests and find little nooks and crannies in the trees and get the moss and nuts and in the morning rush out there and see if the fairies had come to dance in their nest at night. It was usually just the squirrels after the nuts and pinecones and stuff.  All off those are just some great, great memories and what I remember most about family trips.

Rob:  And then what about towards High School?  What did you do for work?  Part-time jobs and full-time after

Nicole:  Paper Route was my first job.  We were just down the road so it was not very far.  I was too cool to pull a buggy or a basket or anything so I used to carry all these newspapers, had to go home half way and grab another section, was covered in newsprint afterwards but I was too cool to drag a basket along behind me.  That was the first job.

Then my first real job was at McDonalds.  I loved that job.  They have such a great training program there.  They tell you have time to lean, you got time to clean.  It is still the really good work ethic, right from day one.  To this day, I can’t stand being bored at work.  I put in 100% effort all the time.  I went from McDonalds to KFC.  McDonalds hired me at $3/hour at a start which in this day and age is crazy and then I went to KFC which was a union job and I think I made $6.50/hour.  I really moved up big time from there.  Then I went onto cashiering at Zellers and working the warehouse at Woodwards in New West Minister.  Then I went onto Dental.  I have been in Dental since 1990.  I have been a dental girl my whole career.

Rob:  What did you do in your early 20s there?  What did you and your girlfriends get up to?

Nicole: Up to no good.  Earlier in the teens, the trouble, possibly I might have taken out my parent’s car before I had my licence without them knowing about it.  That was a bit of a pickle – Girls if you are listening, do not take out our cars because we will catch because I have done it.  I passed my dad on the highway, he didn’t know it.  We had to race home, get the car back in the driveway before he found out about it.  Luckily we didn’t get caught until my friend Terra spilled the beans at my wedding in the little speech she did.  Mom and Dad never knew until my wedding that we had taken the car.  Other than that I didn’t get into too much trouble.  We did the typical parties on the weekend, just hanging out in big groups.  That is the main thing, we just wanted to be together all the time.  We had some nice fun but I always just loved to drive everywhere.  I was always the designated driver so wherever we went be it a party or night club I was always the one to load up my car full of anyone who would get in and dance and dance and dance – Always dancing everywhere we went.  Those were good times.

Rob:  Occasionally, you would venture into the big city there?

Nicole:  Yeh, We would go downtown.  We would cruise up and down Robson Street in my Dad’s big brown truck that I said I was so happy to tell Mrs Smith about.  Dad taught me how to drive on that truck.  Big old truck, big clutch, shifter and we would go cruising down Robson Street on a Saturday night packed with all these people in their cool Vancouver slick cars and then we would come in from Maple Ridge – Blew out the transmission on Dad’s truck but I suppose that is what daughters are for, right?

Rob:  You had mentioned too about having to experience the punk life going into town?

Nicole: Ya, Mom and I and Karen, I had to sow my wild oats between the big eighties hair, preppy and the big eighties hair rocker I also had big eighties hair punk. One day I decided that I had to downtown and I had dressed punk, people were staring at me. I will never forget that experience and I would never do it again.  It was a one off.  I didn’t really like all the negative attention especially because Mom and Karen were dressed in their normal clothes.  But, I had to do it.

Rob:  Did you ever get any picture of that event?

Nicole: No – No photo documentation.  Back in the day before digital camera yes.  No cell phone cameras

Rob:  Leading up to the big cruise that you and your friends went on with Carnival there.  What kind of made you go with them?  Who organized it and how did that all come to be?

Nicole:  We were 21 and we just wanted to sow some oats or whatever the expression would be, we wanted to go on this nice cruise before we really had get responsible.  A couple of them wanted to go on this cruise and see how many people wanted to go.  Of course, I had racked up massive credit card debt at this time, I made a car loan as being early twenties and irresponsible, I was.  It was a life lesson learned.  I won’t be soon racking up again but thankfully or not, it wasn’t the wisest decision, I thought I am going to consolidate all my loans together and take out some extra money and go on this cruise because I really can’t afford it but what the heck.  I needed to sow some oats as well.

In hind sight now it was the best decision of my life because I met my soul mate, Scott, love of my life on that cruise and I don’t regret the money it cost or anything that happened at the time because I met him and here we today years later and still happy.  Love at first sight.  My mom when we got back from the cruise I said, “I met this guys and this is it.  I am getting married, I just know it.”   In all her wisdom she said, “Oh, sure ship board romance.” – She still eats those words when we talk about it.  We just clicked immediately and had a great time there.  There was a group of them from Victoria and a group of us from Vancouver, we were all matched up in age, demographically and interest wise and we all just clicked – The whole group got on great and it was so much fun.  You have the huge group and we felt like we had known each other forever.  It was like when Scott and I met, “Tell me about yourself!” and there was really nothing to tell because we felt that we already knew it all.  It felt like we had known each other our whole lives.  It was meant to be.

Scott, then Brooke & Jada

Rob:  So then you have finished the cruise and gone back home to Maple Ridge, Scott’s come home to Victoria and how did things progress from there?

Nicole:  We never had a first date because we had already skipped past all of that jazz and straight into a relationship so we travelled (I should use that term we lightly) I travelled to Victoria every weekend for a year.  He came over twice I am pretty sure in that entire year (I bug him about that all the time).   He did work on weekends, so I need to be a little bit more fair.  He worked every Sunday.  We travelled back and forth and then a year later I ended up moving over to Victoria in 1993 and that is where we have been.  Shortly after I moved over we got engaged and here we are.  Married the year after that, 1994.

Rob:  What about the engagement?  Anything you want to share about that?

Nicole:  My mother was very sick at the time.  It was important to Scott to ask their permission to marry me.  He didn’t feel he wanted to do that with Mom in the hospital and being so sick.  He had always said he was going to propose on a horse draw carriage ride and so he had this whole big dinner planned, and we went on this horse drawn carriage ride.  I was really expecting to be proposed to and he didn’t.  Talk about bursting a bubble, I was so disappointed but because of the circumstances he hadn’t asked Dad’s permission yet.  Short time later when he actually did propose he explained it to me.  The night he proposed was very sweet.  I walked into my apartment and he had a sheet draped up so I could get into the bedroom and the bathroom and had a note and a rose pinned to the sheet…”Have a nice bath, relax after work, I am getting dinner, don’t peek.”  I had a little rest and when he was ready he had this big romantic dinner set up– We had our nice dinner and when he came to give the dessert course he brought the ring out and got down on his hands and knees and proposed.  It was very sweet, very romantic.  Then we phoned Mom and Dad after and asked.

Rob:  Great – Then, what about the wedding?

Nicole:  The wedding was great.  The wedding was in Maple Ridge.  The church that I had gone to and the pastor that I had always grown up with married us.  It was important for me to get married in a church.  It was pouring raining that morning, October 1, 1994 – I thought perfect, pouring rain but the sun did come out. It cleared up and was a beautiful, beautiful sunny day.  Great reception, the best memory I have of that day is when I got out of the car, I was so nervous, when we got to the church.  I thought I was going to pass out.  I was so nervous and when those doors opened and I walked in and then I looked at Scott this calm came right over me.  I knew everything would be just fine.  That is the moment I cherish the most from that.  Then we just went to Wonderplate Hall and had a great party, great friends, everybody danced and ate and drank.  I think everybody had a great time.  We had to take off early because we had reservation for our wedding night at the Hotel Vancouver Downtown which in hindsight now was silly because it is over an Hour and 15 minute drive from Wanick to Downtown so we had to leave quite early so we didn’t miss a lot of the party.  That is ok.  We had our nice night.  It was a beautiful room, champagne and strawberries waiting for us when we got there.  It was lovely, beautiful day.  I will always remember our wedding.

Rob:  After the wedding, what about living here in Victoria and you living at Scott’s folks?

Nicole: Ya, in the basement suite.

Rob:  Then you bought this place.

Nicole:  Yes, we bought our house 1728 Applewood Place in 2000.  We had lived in Scott’s parent’s basement suite for a number of years.  We had Brooke and then Jada.  It was just too small.  There were only 2 bedrooms. It was too tiny.  Jada was literally a couple of months old when we moved in here.  She was born in June and we moved in October 2000.  It was the scariest thing we had done I think but the most exciting thing we have done as well.  Our parent thought we were crazy as the house needed so much work but we have picked away at it and we have built what I think is a lovely family home for us.  It suites us perfectly and it is home.

Rob:  Absolutely, it is a great place.  I actually saw it before.  You have done it great wonders.  You mentioned your 2 daughters.  Tell me about the expansion of the family.

Nicole:  We waited a year and decided that is it time.  We had, I wouldn’t say a struggle so much, but we had to take our time to get Brooke.  We tried and tried and tried to get Brooke – We wanted her so badly and don’t know if that was what the delay was that we wanted a family so badly that it wasn’t happening for us.  Finally she came along, and it was very exciting to be pregnant.  Had a very nice pregnancy actually, no problems at all.  I craved iced tea all the time.   I couldn’t get enough ice tea with Brooke.  It was all about the ice tea.  The day she was born we had watched Pulp Fiction that evening and went to bed at about 11 and as soon as I got into bed I could feel some twinges and though, “Hmm, this is interesting.”  Went to sleep anyway, got woken up again at the crack of dawn about 6 in the morning thinking, “Mmm, these are very regular twinges now, time to get to the hospital.”  So we phoned Mom and Dad so that they could be on the early Ferry but they decided not to pick up the phone so they unfortunately missed out on the deliver.  We made it to the hospital and had nice quick labour delivery, all natural and it was the greatest, most proud, most awe inspiring moment of my life to experience her being born.  It was unbelievable.  No words can even describe the feeling just the love that comes over you when you hold your brand new baby that you wanted so badly.

Couple of years later, it was time for us to do it all again.  We thought that we wanted them at least 3 years apart so we thought better start now because it took forever to get Brooke.  First try.  Jada was eager.  She is her won person, always has been.  She doesn’t follow any of the other set rules of life that the rest of us follow. Right away pregnant with Jada, with her it was craving Dairy Queen.  I couldn’t get enough Dairy Queen, that was always had to have the Banana Split Blizzard which was nice for Brooke because she always loved to go for the ice cream as well.  Again, great delivery with her.  I ended up being induced about a month early with her.  I had a bit of a situation, they had a polyp on my cervix that they needed to investigate so that needed to get her out of there.   They induced me a month early.  I had a very simple deliver with her because I was induced.  It was a couple of hours. Bing bang and the same feelings.  The same everything comes over you.  She looked exactly the same as Brooke when she was born, couldn’t even tell them apart as brand new borns but quickly you can see the difference.   At first that immediate sense of pride, love and the same feelings all over again. Two joys of our lives.  I am so proud of them and everything they have accomplished in their lives and everything that they have become.  I am going to start to cry because I am just so proud of them and love them so so much.  Words can’t even describe it; I will gladly shed these tears.

Rob:  Is there anything specific about their traits that make them stick out or special or make you twinkle?

Nicole:  I look at Brooke and see a lot of myself in her.  I understand a lot, I didn’t when she was younger – I didn’t get her.  Now, every year that she gets older I understand her more and more and see a lot of myself in here.  I see just a beautiful young girl who is very talented, very artistic, and very capable – She rose and has found a passion that she loves to do between art and rowing and she is just very dedicated to what she loves to do and I see a lot of myself in her.

Jada, I guess I don’t understand her because she is more like Scott, she is more free spirited, outgoing, my cuddler, my lover.  I see in her things that I want to be.  I want to be more open and more loving.  I see that in her.  I try to mould myself to her, she makes me say, “I love you” everyday whereas I have a hard time saying that sometimes but she has made me come out of my shell a bit and say stuff like that.  I thank her for that.  I see a lot of those beautiful qualities in her.  They are just wonderful people, I love them both.

Rob:  Awesome.  We will get back to them in a little bit too.  What happens at the Thomson household?  What are some of your family traditions?  Christmas is a big one, you just have to drive by the front of your house to see?

Nicole:  Christmas is a huge tradition in our house.  Scott is Mr Christmas.  Mr Clark Griswold of the outdoor illumination so as you have just said driving by our house you will see a number of inflatables–five inflatables, Christmas lights galore.  We just love it.  Every year we do a Christmas light tour and we go to Butchart Gardens and look that the lights – all about the lights.  We always watch all the TV shows – Christmas Vacation, Rudolph, Charlie Brown Christmas.  Our Christmas traditions of Christmas Eve is always our favourite time.  We have the family over and we just have appies for dinner and just come together has a family. Christmas morning is always fun.  Stockings are a huge tradition, Massive amounts of stockings.  I have never seen more stockings that in the Thomson Family.  Holy Smokes.

Then on a daily basis we just come and go, the kids are so active and busy.  We try to as much as we can sit down as a family for dinner. It usually happens 6 out 7 nights which is great.  A great time to come together as a family and just chat about the day, even if the girls don’t feel like chatting at the time.

We try our hardest to do that.

Family Times

Rob:  What other things do the Thomsons do within the course of the year?  What about Summer?

Nicole:  Summer…We have great, great summers.  Every year we go to Osoyoos.  That is our place.  We have a spot up there with my parents, a fifth wheel on a lot.  It is awesome.  Every year since the kids were little we go, we swim, we meet off, we eat tons of ice cream.   We have got the Sea Dew so we go on the lake with the tubes and it is so much fun.  That is our place where we enjoy going every Summer.  We have had some great vacations as well.  We have done Disney Land twice which the kids just loved.  It is fun see them when they are little at Disney Land, all the excitement and the magic but is just as much fun for Scott and I to ride the rides as well.  We had to go back when they were bigger so that we could do all the roller coasters.  We have done that.  This summer we went to Hawaii as a family.  That was great.  The kids loved it.  The water was just so beautiful and warm, just body surfing all day long. We got some nasty sun burns but we learned from that.  We drank some Mai Tai and went to a luau.  We had just an awesome time.  Scott and I together have done some great stuff too.  We have done some trips.  We went on another cruise for our honeymoon because we met on a cruise of course we had to go back on the honeymoon that was nice.  We have had trips to New York with Karen and Warren.  We have had trips to Nascar a couple of times.  We went to North Carolina, supposed to have gone with a certain Mr. Rob Heppell we decided not to go at the last minute, which was unfortunate so it just ended up being the 2 of us.  We had a great time touring all the facilities and all the neat stuff there in Charlotte.  We did end up by going with said Mr Heppell to Phoenix and a group of other friends and had just a wonderful time in Phoenix watching Nascar as well.  That is the grand plan for Scott and I after retirement.  We are going to follow the Nascar Strip here, get a big RV and go and camp and do the Nascar circuit.  We had lots of nice times on our vacations

Rob:  Maybe Junior will have a few more wins under his belt by then.

Nicole:  Maybe Junior will win by then.  You never know.

Rob:  What about back home here with Scott’s side of the family?  Do you do much with Betty and Norm?

Nicole:  Yes, what we do with them is that we do a lot of Sunday dinners with Betty and Norman.  They wonderful people, I love them just as if they were my own parents.  They are great.  They have helped us tremendously throughout the years with daycare.  They were our daycare and we are so fortunate to have them, to be so accessible in the kids’ lives and to help us out like that.  But with them we do a lot of Sunday type dinners, with his brother Steve and his partner Colleen.  They keep us laughing all the time; Colleen’s laugh is just a riot.  Colleen starts laughing and everybody laughs.  They are just lovely people and love them – I can’t say enough about the Thomson side of the family.  They are great people.

Rob:  What about work?  You had mentioned earlier that you started in the dental industry 20 years ago and obviously you are working somewhere else.  What is it like working with that group of people?

Nicole:  I have been in Victoria with Dr. Bill Stankoven for 17 years and he is just salt of the earth.  He is the kind of person that is so wonderful to work for that even though the job is so high stressed; it is very hard to leave because he is so wonderful to work for.  He is so caring and treats everyone as a family.  All the girls that are there that I work with are just great people; we have so many laughs every day.  That is the thing about that office, every single day you laugh.  There are always funny stories.  We have all our insider jokes and what not and we just laugh and laugh every day – Great group of people to work with.  The one thing I would say in my life (not a regret at all because I don’t regret meeting these people and working with these people) I would not want that much stress in my life again.   Very High Stress, high paced job and stress takes a very much a toll on you physically and mentally.  That would be the one thing that I would say that looking back I would change is the stress level in my life without wanting to leave Bill or the girls I work with in that office –That is the one catch 22 about that place.  Mayfair Dental Centre got to love it.

Rob:  What are your thoughts on faith?

Nicole:  I thank my Dad tremendously for instilling that into me.  Mom and Dad would take me to Sunday school when I was little and then Dad carried on when we moved to Maple Ridge at the Church Burnet Memorial and I always went to a Sunday school and then getting older joined youth groups and what not.  Being involved in that really taught me right from wrong, taught me that God loves me and that I am always protected and I am never alone.  I have witnessed miracles, God has saved my life in the past and I know he is watching over me now.  There was a time that I was up a Whistler and I was driving from Whistler to Pemberton and the roads were slick and in a turn I hit a patch of ice, it was rock sheer cliff on one side and then a sheer drop off on the other side.  I spun in this corner, bounced off the wall on the one side, spun around and I was going to go over that edge and something stopped my car and I know it was a miracle of God.  I was not done living at that point.  I know it was him.  He just saved my life.  From that point on it really sealed the deal for me and at this point in my journey with this sickness I know he is carrying me and I know that that is what’s getting me through this.  I know God is watching over me and I know I am not afraid because I know where I am going.  All I can do it keep praying and hold onto to everyday for as much time as I can here to accomplish everything he still have for me to do here – Who knows what that is…I am hoping he has more for me to do here.  I am hoping I will be here for quite some time but I trust and have great faith as does Scott now and I am hoping my girls do as well.  They say they do and I am assuming and hoping that they do.  We will see what God has in store for them as well.

Rob:  You are showing them a great example so if that is one thing to instil on them you are succeeding there.    You were talking about faith, thoughts on heaven?  Have you thoughts…

Nicole: What is it is going to be like?  I haven’t.  I am going to be a mess.   All I know is that I am going to be a blubbering crying mess.  Every time I think about it I get into a song or there is a phrase I read I see in the nature I instantly tear up because I know that is God.  Nature is very much God to me.  I will see something beautiful, a tree or sunset and I will read a passage and I will start to cry or I will hear a song and start to cry.  I know that is how I will be. I won’t even be able to formulate a sentence.  I know that past family and friends will be there.  I know that in a blink of an eye my currently family and friends will be there and it will seem like just a mille-second to me I am sure no matter how many years go by on earth here.  We will just have to wait and see.  Nobody knows.

Rob:  You alluded to some things already but from life up to this point, what else would you like to share with people of what you have witnessed and seen and what you could do like you said try not to be as stressed.  Any sage advice you would like to give?

Nicole:  Say I love you more.  Say I love you multiple times a day to everybody.  It was always a hard things for me to be open to.  I am what you would say private.  It is what I see a lot in Brooke, so I am going to bring that out of her.  Try to be more open especially with the people you love.  Don’t be share or scared of rejection.  Don’t be scared of it not being reciprocated because you would be surprised if you put it out there what comes back to you.  That would be some advice as well as manage your stress – It is not worth it in the end to be too stressed out.  I just like to say, love with all your heart and laugh every day.  Laughter is the best medicine.  The cup is always, always half full.  If I had to say one phrase in my life, I would say life is beautiful and the cup is always half full. It can never be half empty because that is just not a way to live.  It is always half full.

Thoughts and Reflections

Rob:  Nick, I have some random question for you.  I will start with some easier ones. What is your favourite food?

Nicole:  Favourite food would have to be ice-cream.  Anyone who knows me would know;  Plain, cheap vanilla ice-cream with chocolate sauce and blueberries, greatest things ever on the face of the earth.  Cannot go wrong.  Seconded by Cotton Candy ice-cream from the Windmill.  Ice cream for sure.

Rob:  What about your favourite restaurant?

Nicole:  You can’t top a nice Keg Steak.  It’s got to be Cafe Mexico.  As family we love to go there.  We have a waitress there that knows us and even knows our order because we are such creatures of habit. Jada and I get the same thing every time we go in.

Rob:  What is your Favourite drink?

Nicole:  Beverage would have to be, I drink a lot of water I would not say it is a favourite, but Strongbow with ice and lime in the Summer sitting on our back deck downstairs Scott and I after work on a Friday night – He has his beer and I have a Strongbow and we just chat about the day and sit there for hours.  It is a really fond memory.  Also Strongbow watching UFC at Applebees sitting at the counter – Chicken wings and Strongbow – many, many good memories with Strongbow.  Definitely, Strongbow with ice and lime.

Rob:  What is your favourite colour?

Nicole:  Blue.  All sorts of shades of blue, and black which is a non colour; If I had to choose a colour to wear it would be black.  All the different shades of the water.

Rob:  Cool.  What about your favourite animal.

Nicole:  Numan the pug.  I love pugs.  I wanted a pug since I was in High School.  I love pugs.  There is something so funny and cute and perky about them.  We as a family have had 3 pugs.  We had Maggie.  Scott and I got her even before we had kids.  The sun rose and set on Maggie.   She was a little brat it was unbelievable how bratty she was.  We ended up getting her uncle because the breeder could not keep him.  She had 2 stud males in the house and it didn’t work out.  We took Uncle Nic (He came pre-named) even though it was the same name as me so we had the 2 of them.  They were our kids until Brooke came along and then moved down on the pecking order.  Now we have Numan the Pug.  He is the greatest dog ever.  He is the greatest dog we have ever had – He is the light in my life.  It is amazing how much joy an animal will bring to your life.  He is definitely part of the family.  Numan, The Pug, Thomson

Rob:  What is your favourite sound?

Nicole:  Favourite sound would be the wind in the trees in Osoyoos.   I love that sound and wind chimes out in our backyard. The chirp of hummingbirds, there are so many beautiful sounds and most of them are from nature as well as you wouldn’t call it favourite sounds but the sounds of Scott snoring and the sounds of Jada grinding her teeth and sounds of Brooke going mmmme.  All those family sounds, comfort sounds.

Rob:  What is your favourite place on earth?

Nicole:  Climbing into bed at night just the feeling of being in your own bed.  I love our bed, nice and cozy.  Favourite place to be, anywhere with my family, but Osoyoos, loving our time in Osoyoos.   I can’t wait to get up there every summer and then when we are there we just don’t want to leave.  Osoyoos and Bed.

Rob:  What would you like to hear God say to you when you arrive in heaven?

Nicole:  I love you and I accept you and I forgive you for everything you have done on earth, because we all do stupid things and say stupid things that we regret.  I know he will say those things but to actually hear the words even though I know in my heart he loves me.  Those are the words I want to hear myself.  I am going to start to cry.

Rob: I know this will make you cry Nick…What do you want to say to your family?

Nicole:  The same things that I just want to hear – I love you and I accept you and I forgive you.  I hope you forgive me and love you and accept me for all the things we do or say to each other  that sometimes you say things that you don’t mean and other times you say things that you means so much that your heart is going to burst right out.  I just want to say to them that I love them with all my heart and all my soul and that I want to be here with them forever and love them and comfort them be around them all the time.  I want them to know that I am always going to be with them whether I am here or not.  Years from now if I am at work or just away from the house doesn’t necessarily mean I am gone gone but if I am gone then I will always be with them no matter what.  I will always love them and accept them and cherish them and all our time together.  I am so proud of them and so honoured to be part of this family and I hope they feel the same way – Now I am really crying.

Rob:  That is great Nic.  This has just been a pleasure and honour to do this with you and I want to do it with you again many years from now.

Nicole:  Thank you very much.

 

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