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James Shaw

@shawzyreturns

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28 years of experience being a human, still learning
Certified Mental Performance Consultant®(CMPC) | @ironmindsmpc
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Moments before she said yes ❤️💍 by @shawzyreturns

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2 years ago

Ashes, ashes, we all Fall down! #GetBackUp taken in The Glebe by @shawzyreturns

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2 years ago

blueberry eyes. 🫐 by @shawzyreturns

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2 years ago

10 Years of Joy. Find someone you can spend decades with and tell them you love them. by @shawzyreturns

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a month ago

If you would’ve told me a week ago that Spike would no longer be with us, I’d probably laugh and say “We’ll see.” Not because he was in particular top shape, but because he seemed to have a refusal towards death.

When I first got him, I was a chubby 10-year-old kid, with buck teeth, hand-me-down clothes and a love of pizza and snakes. I used to catch all kinds of wildlife when I went to my brother’s soccer games. One day, I asked my mom whether she’d ever let me keep a snake… to which she swiftly replied (multiple times thereafter), “NOT IN MY HOUSE!” I mean fair, but I’m a Shaw and we’re stubborn, or what I’ve later come to learn… patient and persistent. So I kept asking and eventually my mom told that weird cute kid of hers, “I’ll let you have a lizard only if it stays in your room.”

So I’m 10, and the store/zoo staff at Little Rays Reptiles let me pick out the beaded dragon at the bottom of the pile with the crook in his tail. He told me, “This is a big responsibility for the next 8-10 years of your life. These lizards a very great pets, but their health is fragile as with most small pets.” I thought to myself, I will have a great teenage experience and when I’m off to university, I’ll probably say goodbye to him.

I did not know at that time, nor could anyone predict, that over the next 18 years of my life such a prickly, lethargic, smelly lizard would profoundly shape the way I grew up. My love for him was strong from the start, but it had a lot of time to cook.

In the spirit of who I was back then, I still identify as an odd kid. Back then, I used to feel shame because I was different. I knew I couldn’t relate to everyone and it made me feel small. But when I came back home to Spike, I had someone I could be with, without the fear of judgment. Somebody to confide all the challenges of my days.

Someone who could help me find myself and grow beside.

He helped me through high school and I thought to myself, “He still looks healthy? I thought he was supposed to die in the next couple years? I feel like he did his job.” I stayed home. So did he. I thought, surely, that at some point during my undergrad, I’d have to take a day or two off to recover from by @shawzyreturns

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2 months ago

Tossin pills 💊 taken in Ottawa, Ontario by @shawzyreturns

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3 months ago

Me, her, and the dawg❤️ by @shawzyreturns

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4 months ago

Slinging rocks. We lost, but I’m going to run 30km today so I’ll get over it 😂 by @shawzyreturns

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5 months ago

Every 9 wants to be the centre of attention… #bytown #3XV by @shawzyreturns

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5 months ago

Be at peace for a moment. by @shawzyreturns

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a year ago

Fall 🍂🍁 taken in The Glebe by @shawzyreturns

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a year ago

Cabbage patch pup by @shawzyreturns

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a year ago