Journeyman Stories

As I  got home yesterday after a long day at work, Skylar was so excited to see me, and gave me this big hug, in her own way giving me the report of the day. After a while, she just said: “Daddy, I want my phone”. That is how things are. Everything I have is hers. I mean everything! Since she was a few months old, she was at a daycare downtown Toronto. She stayed there for a while even after we moved in the East end of the City. I used to go to pick her up in the evening, and because we had a long trip home, I thought it would be better to go to a nearby food court so that she could eat something before we hit the road ( I think my wife started that tradition). After a while, she got used to our trip to the small Greek restaurant whose owner had become a friend of ours because we went there almost every evening. He even had a “Skylar Menu” which was made of rice, meat balls and a small bottle of chocolate milk, all for just three dollars. Skylar was so used to the sma...

The other day, I went to pick up my three year old daughter Skylar from the daycare and here is what my conversation with her teacher went: Teacher : Do you guys go to church?                                                 Me:   Yes                                                               Teacher:  A Christian church?    Me : Yes…. Why?    Teacher :  Skylar has been singing: “Yes Jesus loves me" since ...

As I was about to say goodbye to my friend on the phone, she asked me a question to which I responded: “I have learned to never say never ever again”. I don’t know if that makes sense to you, but for me it does. After a number of months trying my best to get out of a situation I was in, I finally gave up fighting. I was exhausted. It was like being in quick sand. The more you fight, the more you sink. As I was sharing the whole situation with Paul my friend, I simply told him: I have to stop the insanity. As Einstein said,  " Insanity  is doing the same thing over and over again and   expecting different results ."   Thank God that, over the years, I have learned (most of the time, the hard way) to rely on a High Power. I had to let go and let God. Boy did He deliver! The whole situation reminded me of a poem I read a number of years ago. It reads like this: Broken Dreams   As children bring their broken toys With tears for us to mend...

There are some things I see sometimes and wished I would have come up with the idea first. Have you ever wished you were the creator of Facebook? How about Uber? It is something that simple and convenient that I wished it was my idea. I wish I could sing like “The Eagles” (I know I am old school, please bear with me) or dance like the late Michael Jackson. It was the same feeling I had when I read Tahoy James’ blog. I said to myself “I wished I had written this blog”. It is that well done. I totally related to what she was sharing. Unlike Uber, Facebook or the Eagles that I will never have, I am glad Tahoy’s blog is being posted by…me. Yes. Tahoy is our guest blogger this week. I hope it won’t be the last time that you will read a piece from her. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you Tahos James in: “My Self -doubt” I know you will enjoy it. Thanks again Tahoy                     ...

We drove a little bit late at night. I had been to this place called Orillia before, but it was about ten years ago. I didn’t remember much about it, other than it was beautiful. Here we were on the road, and there was not much we could see, except a signal on the highway that said “beware of cattle”. We thought it was funny.   By the time we arrived at the hotel, it was almost midnight. I went straight to bed. We had to wake up early in the morning as breakfast was scheduled to be served a six O’clock. There was no way I was going to miss out.‎ You may be wondering what was happening in Orillia. I am glad you asked. A number of months ago, Paul, my business partner, got this brilliant idea, and once he shared it with me I was totally on board. He realized that for us to do what we wanted to do, we must work with partners. These may be service providers, or simply other business owners with goals similar to ours. Paul decided to go out and attend different netwo...

I met Alix a while back on the basketball court. I saw in Alix a guy determined to play ball the right way and with an eagerness to win. Later on, I got to meet Alix when I started to attend the church that I now call home. With time, we have developed  a strong relationship, especially now that we have been travelling a lot together. He is indeed a great guy.‎ A few months ago, while watching the NBA finals with Alix, out of the blue he asked me what would be my dream job if I was given a chance to choose a job that fulfilled me. I thought for a while, and I said: “My dream job would be to work around an NBA team. To go behind the scenes and see how they train, to be at the press conferences and in their locker rooms for interviews. That would be my dream job. In fact, I told Alix, I think I would even do it for fee lol. He just laughed. Fast forward, a few weeks ago, a friend and business partner told me that he would like to introduce me to a great couple that recently...

It has been a heck of a ride this summer and that is an understatement.  Last Saturday was my birthday, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your wishes. It was overwhelming to say the least. This is the first time that I spend my birthday away from home. In fact I was in Ottawa to host a wedding on Friday. After the wedding, I went back to my friend’s house who hosted me.   He was waiting for me even though it was at two o’clock in the morning. We had a lot of catching up to do. By the time we went to bed, it was almost five o’clock in the morning. As I entered the bedroom, I checked my phone, and the numerous messages reminded me that it was my birthday. I had completely forgotten about it. I went back to the living room and told my friend that it was my birthday. He got so excited that he went in the fridge and brought me an ice cream. My first and only birthday gift lol. I woke up   in the afternoon (the trip to Ott...

A few weeks ago, I was chatting with my wife and I told her that I saw on Facebook a picture of a fellow Burundian who had won the lottery in Ottawa. I told her that I know the guy and that it was cool to win the lottery at such a young age. She then asked me how old the guy was. I told her that I thought he might me one or two years older than me. She then said: “Is that what you call young?” I guess I cannot say I am young anymore. Last week, as I was doing some work at home, I thought it would be a great idea to listen to music while I am working. By the magic of Youtube, I found a Bob Marley concert, and I thought I would watch it while working at the same time (yes, sometimes it possible). As the music started to play, I was brought back to my youth. We used to listen to that music back in the days under the tree in Ngagara (where I grew up), without even understanding the lyrics. It was one of the greatest moments of my life. I started to remember all the great f...