If there is one thing I love about my personal and business friends it is the diversity of culture, personality and language that they bring to my life. In particular, I love their accents. While some of them speak "Canuck English" with no hint of a drawl, a brogue or a twang, there are many who bring the fragrance of their homeland into each conversation.

For example, when having tea with one friend in particular I make sure I ask a few questions that I know will elicit a positive response; the way she rolls "aye" off her tongue sounds so grand. Then there those special friends who speak my husband's native language. Be it Hochdeutsch or Plattedeutsch - the high or low version of German - I thoroughly enjoy the fact that I understand enough to figure out most conversations. My Toastmaster friend, Eve, and the lilting Swiss German version she speaks eludes me, though. Even a two week stint in that beautiful country wasn't enough for me to master more than one or two words in the dialect.

This past weekend I had the joy of attending a women's retreat and although I'd never met any of the ladies before, I was surrounded with warmth and a lot of beautiful accents. There was the musician from Brazil whose music and speech encapsulated all I have imagined Brazil would be like. There was the lovely lady from Norway whose demeanour and speech reminded me of a precious friend, now deceased. Gals from Chile, Australia and Poland added to the mix.

"He who loves purity and the pure in heart and who is gracious in speech-because of the grace of his lips will he have the king for his friend."

Nothing has power as a gracious word, spoken in any tongue, to make us one.