Journey to Another Place

 Found this promotional still from a never-released slo-action film titled The Tai Chi Gambit. Early reviews described it as a real sleeper.

 

I have been humbled to have my name and memory honoured in a couple of unexpected ways this week. And these have made my living wake even more special. The Board of Directors of IRSA (Immigrant & Refugee Services Association) PEI, formerly Newcomers, has decided to re-name the annual financial awards for students at Holland College and UPEI, the Craig Mackie Newcomer Scholarship. They have increased the annual amount from $500 to $1,000. These awards are granted to students who go above and beyond good academics and make meaningful contributions to the wider community through volunteering. Here is the announcement from Holland College:  https://hollandcollege.academicworks.ca/donors/30   The members of my old curling team (and I do mean old  😉 ) will once again be representing Prince Edward Island at the Canadian National Masters Curling Championships in Winnipeg starting in mid-November. The team will be wearing a patch on their team jackets with my initials, CM, on it. I wish th

  Natalie, Ian, Craig - Back Then and More Recently Days away from my date with death, I am even surprising myself. I don't feel afraid. I don't really feel much of anything except a distant sense of relief.   I can feel myself becoming progressively weaker. Taking just  a few steps with the support of the walker is tiring. I need increasing amounts of oxygen. My at-rest flow rate is up to 11 L/m. A week ago it was 10. I now have two concentrators paired with a Y-tube in order to give me enough oxygen. If I experience a sudden drop in blood-oxygen level, I need both an oxygen tank and the twinned concentrators and go through a desperate gasping for breath to catch up. The drugs I'm taking are causing skin problems, facial swelling, and brutal dry-mouth to say nothing about difficulties with urination (oh look, I said something about it [ha]). I'm nearing 20 pounds weight loss. Some of the drugs are also making me gap in and out of reality (not such a bad thing sometimes

Fewer than three weeks away from the end of my life and I’m asking myself how am I doing.   As I am trying to live in the moment as much as is possible, I can say I’m doing alright. I can’t help myself when my mind wanders to contemplate that just after four in the afternoon in early November there will be no more me. In this brain which is always crackling with thought energy there will be nothing. An emptiness. It’s hard to wrap my head around it.   I think this is how and why some find comfort in the concept of an afterlife. They say to themselves, “surely this can’t be it“. But I think it is. We have one chance at life and if there is something after, it’s not who we were, if that makes sense. I can also see why people believe in miracles. They hope and hope that something supernatural will occur and magically they will be cured or returned to a previous state of better health.   I’m not frightened of what will be coming. In many ways, the end will be a relief. No more desperate ga

This note came from a friend via Messenger: Hi Craig, I have been meaning to write to you yet struggling to find the words. I have been following your journey closely and my admiration for you continues to grow. So I finally decided to just write, thinking the words would come. Somehow, they still fail me but I'll do my best. When I moved to Canada almost two decades ago, you were among the first people I met. I visited you at CBC where you gave me a tour and chatted with me about my dreams of someday working in radio. You told me about college programs, made calls, helped me apply. And thus, the trajectory of my Canadian adventure changed. It turned into my Canadian life instead. So many wonderful things happened to me, so many great friendships, some of the very best in fact, were formed as a direct result of meeting you. Throughout the next couple of decades, our paths would continue to cross regularly, most consistently at Starbucks. It was always so great to see you come in on