Reflections from Diane Stephenson

Reflections on My Life

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Well, I suppose it's the normal thing to begin at the beginning.

I guess that means when and where I was born. That would be a lot of years ago in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. I spent my growing-up years in that city, population of around 36,000 people in 1950. The population has probably about tripled by now. And no, that's not the year I was born. Actually it was before that! Brantford is the place from where Alexander Graham Bell made his first telephone call - to Paris, Ontario, 7 miles away. The city was known for many years as the Telephone City. Brantford has had 13 royal visits from England between 1860 and 1997. The first was HRH Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, and the latest was Queen Elizabeth II.

I attended Major Ballachey Public School and Pauline Johnson Collegiate and Vocational School. The high school was named after Pauline Johnson, a poetess from the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford. We didn't have the organized sports during my elementary school years as they do today. In the winter, there would be a small rink flooded behind the school and we ice skated there. There were baseball diamonds on the school grounds as well as hopscotch and other games. We played Red Rover, Simon Says, I Spy with My Little Eye. Some of you may never have heard of these games. But we made our own fun. High school was a little different as we had our football, basketball and volleyball teams. Oh, we did have a volleyball team in Grade 8. I am not a lover of sports but I did enjoy playing volleyball and badminton. Oh, yes, and ping pong. By the way, is that a sport?

Enough of that part of my life. I eventually graduated from Grade 13 - I know, they don't have that anymore either - and entered the Brantford General Hospital School of Nursing. I spent nearly 2 years there, then decided, for reasons I won't go into here, to leave. I then took a commercial art course for 10 months and ended up getting a job in London, Ontario where I have been ever since. In London, that is, not the same job. After losing my job in 1982 due to illness, I decided - after I recuperated, that is - to start a home based business. Thus began Dove Creations using my 'talent' for sewing, crafts etc. By 1992, crafts weren't doing so well, and I took a job as a Welcome Wagon hostess. It was fun getting to meet so many people, and interesting, too. But very time consuming and gas-consuming as well. In the end, I found I was spending too much money for gas and too many hours of my time in comparison to what I was being paid.

That was when I joined my first MLM, aka network marketing company. I have been in several over the years, often promoting health products. For years I have been interested in things that can get and keep us healthy. Currently I am a distributor - actually a Founding Member for Canada - in Healthy Coffee International. I love the products. Especially the Blend - gourmet coffee with no caffeine, reishi mushroom and ginseng with non-dairy creamer and cane sugar all in one convenient foil package. Just add water. Check out my YouTube videos about reishi mushroom. Actually there are 4 of them, if you have the patience or interest to watch them all. Actually all but one are also on this site. Just click on the Healthy Coffee page.

Now, I'm going to change my pattern of starting at the beginning and going on till the end. Back in 1970 I had an encounter with God. I made the most important decision of my life on February 14 that year. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, and have never for one second regretted that decision. Life has definitely had its ups and downs since then, but it had those before. Since that day I would say that about the only constant thing in my life is change. I've walked through dark valleys, climbed mountains, trudged through the wilderness (spiritually speaking, of course) on this journey to fulfill my destiny. I have met some wonderful people along the way and my life little resembles what it was 4 decades ago. Today, officially turned senior citizen in 2010, I'm busy with church, writing, creating web sites, posting on networking sites, and generally happily wiling away my time. Talking about that, I think it's time to come to the end. Maybe I'll fill you in on some other details on a separate page. But for now, I'll bid you adieu and hope you have learned something about me that you didn't know before. That is, those of you who knew me before!

Have a wonderful day, a joy-filled week and a prosperous life of fulfillment.