December 31st - The last day of 2013, signalling the end of another year. Some of us have just had their electricity turned back on after almost a full week of weather related outages in the GTA and Southern Ontario region.

It sucks being cold. I am not just saying this because I hail from a tropical island (ok, maybe a little), but having chosen to live in Canada, it is incumbent on me not to give into complaining. After all, Canada is a fantastic place to live and get connected on all sorts of levels!

Our country offers freedoms and opportunities that all of us have taken for granted at one time or another. But I want to focus on one aspect of Canadian priviledge that we seldom seem to consider.

Just being Canadian.

Sure, many have tried to qualify and quantify what it means to be Canadian, but have we taken the time to realize that it's the sum of the parts of who we are; where we live; what we do; that make up the whole of our identity?

I had mentioned in a previous post that the CMC is a microcosm of Canada; sort of a two-wheeled diorama of leather-clad individuals, that somehow lends itself to defining who we are collectively and individually. These are just my impressions of course, and in no way should be construed as representing the majority of the collective CMC thinking.

Here are a just few elements of individuality that makes CMC so unique; and I daresay, so Canadian:

• Shoe’s (Glenn) trucking photos of his cross-border travels. Canadiana at its finest.
  
• CenCom’s (Mary) faithful birthday greetings. CMC’s Loving Grandma for sure
  
• Trixie’s (Amanda) courageous discourse on Aspergers Syndrome and how it affects her family. Also her penchant for jumping on the Choo Shoe train with stops at Louboutin, Vuitton and Blahnik
  
• Baby Jack’s (Jacqui) skillful care and passionate commitment to our environment and food sources.
  
• Grizzz (Mike) - one of CMC’s west coast Regional Officers who single-mindedly juggles work and home life, while at the same time demonstrating unique cheerleading characteristics of leadership on the forum.
  
• Fireden (Dennis) - our National Officer who brings balance to the force of personalities that make up the living CMC organism.
  
• Irma - our Membership Coordinator who is the first contact and introduction to CMC for all new members. She would probably say otherwise, but look up CMC in the dictionary and you will see a picture of Irma.
  
• Ron’s (Morissette) excellent representation via video and radio on what CMC is all about.
  

There are many more like those mentioned above. All of you, yes even those with differing opinions, share in the common values that make us CMC Members. Whether we ride or just have a passion for motorcycles; what is important are the people who make up our Trans-Canadian community.

My prayer for 2014 is that we learn from our mistakes; we become stronger in spite of our differences and we demonstrate what it means to unconditionally accept each other; yes, with imperfections, idiosyncrasies and all.

Isn't that what family is all about?