Skip to main content

My Journey back in time

The last few weeks have been quite interesting.  First, there is this wedding I was hosting a few Saturdays ago. I met people I haven’t seen for a very long time. It was so great. Then I attended a funeral the following week, and boy was I surprised to see folks I grew up with that I haven’t seen for ages.

Just a few hours ago, I was coming from a meeting and who do I see? At first I couldn’t believe my eyes. A former colleague of mine back 15 years ago at the Radio station in Burundi. I didn’t even know he was in Canada (we’ve been in the same city for 3 years and I didn’t even know it). He told me that he still has the tapes of our show! We shared great memories indeed.

All these people I met brought me back in time

Time really flies. You know that you’re getting old when you see kids you sow being born saying that they are about to go to college. I am exaggerating here, but it is shocking how kids grow so fast
We just celebrated my daughter’s fifth birthday. Wasn’t she born yesterday? I can’t believe she is five years old now. I have to tell you. It is a fun age. She is schooling me in everything now. She just decreed a law that states that we won’t be speaking English at home anymore. “On parle en Français” she says. As a good citizen, I have to obey the law. Mind you, she started to learn French a few months ago, and now it is the official home language.

Since she was two years old, my daughter has been suffering from what the doctors call enlarged adenoids and enlarged tonsils which resulted in severe snoring and difficulties in breathing while asleep. We saw a specialist who gave us some medication. It worked for a while, but it was not enough. It was really unbearable to see her struggling to sleep night after night. During the day, she would be the laughing and dancing kid we all know, and at night it would be something else.
Finally, the doctors suggested that surgery was inevitable

They did all the tests and set up a date. It was a quick surgery and we stayed at the hospital overnight
I had tears in my eyes when I saw her crying when she woke up after the surgery. I knew it was temporary, but still, it hurts to see your kid in pain

The recovery went smoothly for a few days, and then she started complaining about having pain in her ears. It got even worse that we had to run to the emergency room. We ended up staying at the hospital overnight. We were finally released in the afternoon, and from then on she started to feel better

She is completely healed now, and when she sleeps there is no sound at all. It is as if she is not in the room. Years of suffering are now gone. They are a distant memory

When we have been suffering for a while and it gets worse, it is a sign that things are about to get better for good. My daughter reminded me of that fact a few weeks ago. “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” says the Bible

Suffering is a good thing if we have the right perspective of the events. That is my opinion

Moral of the story? Do you want to end your suffering? Come meet my daughter and you will be speaking French

Always a pleasure

Patrick
The Journeyman













Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My Journey to Orillia

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...

My Journey to two stories

I participated in a communication's course last week-end. Talk about being at the right place at the right time. It was unbelievable! Do you know what was the emphasis in the course? Guess! It was communication in relationships! No comment! Lol During the course, I reflected on two stories that I would like to share with you (free of charge of course). Here they are: There was an old guy who was sleeping in his couch. His grandkids came over while he was sleeping and placed a piece of cheese under his nose. Soon after, the guy woke up and exclaimed: “this room stinks!” He went into the kitchen and said again: “This kitchen stinks as well, maybe I should go outside”. He went outside, but still the same smell was around. Finally, in disgust he shouted: “The whole world stinks”. Little did he realize that the scent came from the cheese that was under his nose. Did you like that story? If not, I won’t share the next one. ..........Okay, okay, seeing that you insist, I wi...

My journey to Choq

Here I am again with another unknown word. What in the world is the meaning of Choq? This is the name of the first radio station I worked at in Canada (so far it's the first and only station, but I believe there are many more to come). How did I come to know about this station? It's a long story. Here I am, new to Canada, with three years of experience in radio broadcasting under my belt, trying to nail my first job without even getting my work permit yet (Superman, watch out). The only connection I had in Toronto was the Internet (what a good one!), and the only place I knew was the public library (another good one). Networking has been one of my strengths (the Internet and the public library were the first good business contacts I made. I was the man!!!). But, after a few calls, I knew that my two contacts were not enough. I had to meet real people. However, I kept coming back to the library (I am a faithful friend) because the Internet helped me to keep in touch with my fami...