#18 – Posing with Celebrities

One of the many great opportunities at this conference was meeting a couple of the keynote speakers who shared their inspiring and fascinating stories with all of us. Two of these speakers in particular really touched me.

Mark Tewksbury

Before this conference, I had never heard of this guy (yes, embarrassingly so). And for anyone reading this who also hasn’t heard of him, he is a Canadian Olympic swimming champion but also a fantastic motivational speaker. He speaks about pushing yourself outside of your limits; being effective in what you do, keeping active, and setting goals in life.

He shared his gripping story of how he worked harder than many can imagine, swimming 6-7 hours a day, with the goal of reaching and winning the Olympics. He pulled it off but not without his share of challenges along the way. I was rife with goosebumps throughout the presentation and when he showed that winning swim on the screen, I’m sure I was not the only one wiping away a tear. And I have since learned that he is a very outspoken activist, working to eradicate discrimination against the Lesbian and Gay community in sports. I now respect him that much more.

After the presentation was over, I worked up the courage to snag a picture with him. I almost didn’t, but I thought of my challenges and decided it was a good opportunity to push myself to do something that was a little difficult.

It was an inspiring morning and I feel like we were extra lucky to have seen him speak, as he told me he is not going to be doing presentations anymore but will be focusing on doing online workshops. I’ll keep my eyes open for those. He’s fantastic. I was very inspired by him.

A posed and uncomfortable picture – but it was still an inspirational moment!

Hélène Campbell

This spunky young woman is a prime example of how much of a difference one person can make. She was on a waiting list for a double lung transplant and had from 2-5 years to live if she did not receive a transplant. She began a campaign using Twitter, to try to get Justin Bieber to jump into the campaign to raise awareness about organ donation. It worked. She made the news on a regular basis and she has also been on the Ellen show – several times via Skype and once in her studio. Check out the video below:

What I love most about Hélène – aside from the fact that she’s cute as a button and has infectious energy – is the fact that she has spunk and guts. She single-handedly (with less than 26% lung capacity) launched a campaign that caught the attention of thousands of people and managed to inspire many more people to register on the organ donation registry. And Hélène has also started a new campaign called Give to Live. Check both of those links out and be part of the movement. So many lives can be saved and good things can come of tragic circumstances.

I also found the courage to go up and meet Helen after her talk and get my picture with her as well.

Bad hair day for me but who cares?! It was fun to meet Hélène.

Blond Moment #4359

We’ve all seen this familiar sign. And assuming you’re literate and speak at least one of Canada’s official languages, it’s fairly self-explanatory.

But then there’s this blond one. I left friends at a restaurant table to go to the washroom. On my way back from the depths of the labyrinth-like basement, I reached the top of the stairs and saw two doors: One regular wooden door to my left and one bearing this very large sign to my right. I seemed to have had it in my head that when I reached the top of the stairs, I was to turn right to go back into the restaurant.

I mildly noticed the sign, yet instead of paying attention to the fact that a FIRE ALARM WILL SOUND if I open that door, all it does is remind me of the fact that we had a fire alarm at work today and so I started to make a mental note to tell my friend Sharyon about the excitement of it when I arrive back at the table. Only that thought was rudely interrupted by a terribly loud and shrill noise as I pushed the door open. And it was only as I started to step outside when I put the sign, the door and the alarm altogether in one nifty little brain cell to make sense. I quickly let go and shot through the other door into the restaurant, all eyes on me, alarm still blaring. It was the most perfect kill me now moment.

When I landed back at my table, the room went silent and then Tabitha said to me jokingly, “Was that you?”  I could hardly speak, my face was so scrunched with embarrassment and laughter. I think she asked me three times because she didn’t believe me when I said yes each time. Fortunately, we had already paid. As the two ladies rose to put their jackets on and gather their umbrellas, I had already pulled a roadrunner and raced outside. I think I may have left an Erin-shaped hole in the wall.

Sharyon and Tabitha outside Chez Lucien

#17 – Livin’ It Up

In the last 2 months, I have traveled a couple of times for work. I have never had to travel for work before. (Granted, one of those “trips” was just 40 minutes away, but I still had to stay at the hotel for the length of the conference I helped organize.) Though traveling is part of my job, it’s only a few times a year. My mother used to travel weekly and I know it can take its toll – it takes a lot of energy to live out of a suitcase. I welcome this opportunity but I’ll be honest…I’m glad I’m not hopping planes every week or even every month.

As an organizer of these events, I have gotten free room upgrades and found myself in some seriously luxurious digs:

Fireplace in my hotel room in Alberta.

The view out of my hotel window in Alberta.

In fact, I left a tip and thank you note for the room attendant who took care of my room when I was in Alberta. Then I met him in the hall – his name was Albert. Very sweet man. On my last night there, I came into my room to be greeted by this note:

And sitting in the window of the 16th floor of my hotel room in Gatineau last week, I marveled at the view over the nation’s capital:

View of Ottawa/Gatineau from the 16th floor.

One evening during the recent conference, my colleague Tabitha and I went swimming in one of the best pools I have ever experienced. It was a heated outdoor pool. Heated. Outside. It may be April, but it is still Canada and we are still a couple of months away from being able to swim in lakes and outdoor pools. So when I discovered I could swim outside on April 17th, it was certainly happy dance time.

I am told all the time how good swimming is for you. But swimming is like mushrooms for me  – much better warm than cold.

The heated outdoor pool and hot tub at the Hilton Lac Leamy in Gatineau. (Photo taken from their website.)

After the best April swim I’ve ever had, I retreated to my room where I threw my PJs on, then headed down 3 flights of steps to Tabitha’s room (the stairwells were next to our rooms – I would not have headed into the hotel/elevator wearing my PJs!).  We ordered pizza and watched Entertainment Tonight, then I headed back to my own little haven where I could enjoy the rest of the quiet evening. Shortly after arriving back in my room, I received a text from Tabitha: “You left here sans shoes. Didja notice that?”

I hadn’t. Minor blonde moment.

Overall, this traveling-for-work thing is good. Changes things up. I miss my son, my cats and my dogs so I’m always happy to go home. But in the mean time, the best thing about fancy hotel rooms? Fancy bathtubs!

#16 – Best. Flight. Ever.

This blog entry is about 6 weeks late but as the old saying goes, late ain’t always so bad. (I’m not so good with old sayings.)

I climbed onto the Calgary-bound Westjet aircraft at 6:30am on a Sunday. No one should be vertical, much less an hour away from their home that early on a Sunday.  But an early–yet direct–flight still beats out a day of flight changes and layovers. I quickly found my seat and crawled in between two gentlemen who were happily chatting before I came along and burst their Yay!-No-one-is-sitting-between-us bubble.

Fortunately, they were welcoming and charming. One was a retired gentleman from Alberta who had been in Kingston to cheer on his daughter and granddaughter playing in a curling championship. The other was an economist traveling out west for a series of meetings. Sound less than interesting? Well, both of these guys were real hoots! The three of us yacked like 3 giggly teenaged girls.

At one point, we were interrupted by Lisa, our flight attendant, announcing that our flight would be delayed due to an ill flight attendant so they had to call someone else in. So “Marjorie” was on her way but as she had only been called at 6:00 on her day off for a 6:45 flight so we had to wait until she arrived.  Maybe it was just me, but I got the feeling no one minded. The other option was for our flight to be canceled so we were happy to wait a bit longer.

My plane neighbours and I continued to talk and share and laugh and somewhat annoy the others around us.  And when Marjorie arrived, a wave of applause and whistles greeted her and made her blush like a raspberry. It really didn’t feel anything like a sleepy Sunday morning on that flight.

Shorty thereafter, our plane took off and the three of us eventually settled into some quiet time with our own personal TVs. I watched repeat episodes of Will & Grace sandwiched between two curling fans watching their favourite sport on TV. I’d never met so many curling fans in one place.

An hour or so before landing, Economist dude and I picked up the conversation again. That 5-hour flight (plus one hour on the tarmac) really flew by (that pun was special, just for you).

As the airplane landed, I finally thought to ask what these guys’ names were and to introduce myself. They told me their names but I don’t remember them. What I remember is a fun, easy-going flight with awesome people who were complete strangers for only moments and then nameless friends for a few hours. It really was the best flight ever.

Image credit: tieury / 123RF Stock Photo

Checking in…Back soon…

I have not disappeared forever. My challenge project continues on…I have just fallen behind on sharing on my blog. But not forever…oh no! Have faith in this one. It’s been a challenging and oh-so busy time, however I’m on the way to getting back into my blogging routine and will soon be sharing my antics with you once again.

Peace and Happy Green Day!

#15 – Life’s Challenges Can Be Fun…But Some Are Not

Hectic. That is how I would describe the last 2 weeks of my life. Working far too many extra hours to finish a project (which, I can happily say, is pretty much finished). The last 7 days could almost translate into a country song; one of those “if it could go wrong, it did go wrong” kinds of weeks. It’s been a good test of my resiliency.

Suffice it to say that this past week has taught me that there are many challenges that land in our laps without inviting them. They do plenty to shake up our world and keep us on our toes. And we also tend to learn more from such difficulties than we do when we’re living the high life, where everything is great and nothing goes wrong.

For instance, Monday morning, I arrived at my office and discovered my carpet was soaked. A radiator had burst. The damage (and inconvenience), however, could have been far worse than it was and I just plunked myself in my boss’ office for the day and carried on.

At the end of the day, my co-worker, Tabitha, had what I would affectionately call a “psychic moment” (she may disagree, but I’ll have fun with that) when she suggested I take my laptop home due to the fact that the weather was calling for freezing rain the next day. Living almost an hour away from work, I really appreciate the understanding that in bad weather, I can work from home. I decided she was right and although I had no intention of staying home the next day, as I had 2 meetings I was looking forward to, I grabbed my computer on my way out.

It was after leaving the city, while crawling through a snowstorm on the highway that my “Power Failure” light came on and my car decided it had had enough. It coughed, slowed down and I managed to have enough time to get it to the shoulder before it died. I’ll be honest – a couple of tears welled up, but only because it was dark, in the country, cold and snowing. And I was tired. Really, really tired.

I phoned my mechanic who is also my friend and he called in a favour for me. After phoning CAA and being told someone would be there within 90 minutes, I waited in the cold car for Sean to phone me back.

(By the way, I highly recommend you go put a candle, matches and blanket into your car right now. It’s ok, I’ll wait…)

*Cheezy elevator music playing*

So Sean phoned me back and assured me that someone would be there within 15 minutes. He is friends with the guy who owns the towing company that tows for CAA in the area. Sure enough, 15 minutes later, a truck pulled up. Saved.

The tow truck driver and his boss getting my wheels up on the back of the truck.

CAA is a great thing to have, though I must remember to buy CAA Plus, which would cover 40 km towings, as CAA does not. So $100 later, my car and I landed at Sean’s garage up in my area. He kindly drove me home but due to the snow and the fact that my loooong laneway hadn’t yet been ploughed, I insisted he drop me off partway to ensure he wouldn’t get stuck in my yard, unable to climb my hill back out.

It was after 9:00 p.m., I hauled my bag and computer and slogged through the snow in the dark back home. I called the dogs as loudly as I could – my voice echoed in the otherwise quiet valley and moments later, they came running up the laneway and met me.  Those last 5 minutes and the sight of my house made me smile.

Never did “Home Sweet Home” mean so much to me.

So my meetings got cancelled and I chained myself to my kitchen table on Tuesday with a pot of tea and my laptop. However, my frustration only grew when I discovered our work email and website were not working. Uugh. Seriously?? I had a big day on Wednesday. I needed my email. I also needed access to the website. I needed to get my work done. It was a frustrating day for all of us.

Tuesday night, I missed my Date Night with my son, which made me rather sad. But one of the things I try to focus on in my “old age” is not dwelling on things that are out of my control. Easier said than done, but something worth working on.

Wednesday, I nabbed a ride to work with my neighbours. With the exception of the fact that the email quandary was causing me to have to do a lot of manual things at work that would otherwise be fairly automatic and the fact that I had to do some detective work to figure out why my office phone had locked me out of my voice mail, the day was okay. Nerve racking but okay. That night, I learned that my car was fine and I waited up for my friend to pick me up and get it. He didn’t show up. It got late. He got waylaid at the garage. I was bushed. It had already been a long week and it was only Wednesday. When I finally reached him, he assured me that he would drop it off to me in my driveway later that night with the help of a buddy that was working with him. I went to bed far too late, but had faith that I would have a car in the morning.

Thursday morning, I was awake at 4:30 and no matter how much I tried to fall back to sleep, it wasn’t happening. So I (stupidly) reached over and opened my email on my phone. That was a dumb thing to do. I read a very, very sad email from a friend written only hours earlier, announcing that her dog – one I have looked after numerous times – was killed by a car. The shock jolted my heart and I knew that getting back to sleep was but a dream.

Sweet little Kina will be missed.

When I dragged myself out of bed, I peeked outside and was relieved to see my car in my driveway – kind of like Christmas morning when you wake up and need to double check that Santa really had come through; the he was there while you slept and that there was something special just for you. My Santa mechanic had once again come through for me.

Thursday was a a long, long day, but overall a good one. I consider it a new challenge in and of itself (but a good one) and I will write a separate blog post on it.

Friday arrived and so did the wall that I hit. I worked for several hours in the morning and then my co-workers and I all went out for a Sushi lunch (I still didn’t eat any more raw fish, though) to celebrate my friend Richelle’s last day of work – it was her position I took over and we were long overdue to have a lunch to see her off. It was great to see her, but my long and tiring couple of weeks got the better of me by about noon and I felt myself just slipping into “I have to go home now” mode.

As planned, I left work early and landed at my fabulous fabulous Osteopath’s house for some foot work. She is going to fix my foot. That makes me happy. It’s a process but at least I feel like with her help, I will be up and running (literally) within a few short months.

That’s going to be me by summer!

Upon my return home, I did have to work several more hours in order to completely finish that project I had been doing. I was able to wrap it up around 11:00 pm that night.

And now it is the weekend. I get to watch my many, many birds fly, hang out and eat the many, many seeds I always put out for them. I get to enjoy my fire, my cats, my dogs, and my son. My friend came over for breakfast yesterday and we had a lovely time. I made cookies for my Santa mechanic. The quiet of the farm is feeding my soul after this action-packed week emptied part of it.

I have to add one more thing: Although this was certainly a challenging week for me and for many, I recognize that it could have been far worse – I wasn’t in an accident AND my car didn’t cost me an arm and a leg to fix; my own cats and dogs are fine; email and internet problems have been fairly fixed (not 100% but almost there); I have my health, my friends, my family and my home; and once I manage to get over this hump, I will be in a position to consciously and purposely take on more challenges.

Wishing everyone a fabulous week!!!

Image credits:
(Stress/Relax): stuartphoto / 123RF Stock Photo
(Runner): warrengoldswain / 123RF Stock Photo

Popping in

This past week has been packed full of challenges – none have been conscious ones and they’ve all had an element of frustration, but rest assured, I’ll be writing more soon.

Enjoy this last (very rainy – at least in these parts) day of January. I’m searching for ways to go back to bed but haven’t found any yet. Off to the city shortly. Happy day, all!