On lessons from a century of life

A few days ago, one of my close friends' grandmother passed away. She was 104 years old.

No, that's not a typo.

Though I never had the pleasure of meeting her, I did get to know her fairly well through my friend. He told me some of her stories, and stories of her, that made me laugh and made me cry. He may have a few years on me, but even he admits that it's hard to envisage or ever comprehend just how much she experienced in her lifetime. Think about it.

104 years ago, Pablo Picasso was alive and painting. John Wayne was born. Dmitry Mendeleyev, the guy who created the table of elements, passed away.

They'd just invited the first photocopier. Airplanes didn't exist yet. Let me repeat: AIRPLANES DID NOT EXIST. In fact, the term was coined in 1907.

Think back to your "modern" history class. Most of it took place in her lifetime. What a wonderful time it must have been to live! So many amazing discoveries to experience! So much to learn about and so many new places to explore!

I'm sure there is a lot my friend's grandma still could have taught me, and everyone else in my generation. She had strong opinions and values, but she seemed to be an extremely loving, warm, accepting, intelligent, life-long learner.

From my friend's stories, his grandma and I seemed to be kindred spirits. We both understood the importance of always smiling and learning to laugh. Of counting our blessings and being thankful for them too. Of appreciating the people around us and helping them in any way possible. And especially, the importance of loving, because love is the greatest blessing any one of us can bestow.

Most importantly, my friend's grandma taught me the difference between being lucky and being fortunate. Most of the times we say "I'm lucky" what we really mean is "I'm fortunate". What's the difference? You've got to work for the latter. The only time you're lucky is when winning the lottery, she used to scold him. Being at the right place at the right time for that job opportunity? That's called being fortunate that all your hard work finally paid off. Having someone to take care of you when you're sick? Yeah, you're not lucky to have them in your life, but fortunate.

It may seem like a subtle difference, but this difference is of the utmost importance. And learning to use the right word means you've learned to appreciate everything you have, to recognize that you are in control of your own destiny, and are thankful for your blessings.

That's what over a century of life teaches you.

I am fortunate to have known my friend's grandma, and I am even more fortunate that mine is still around to teach me life lessons like these. She may not be 104, but she's still got loads to share!

*** RIP Elsie Maddock, 1906-2011 ***

Home.

It truly is a strange situation to wake up wondering where you are. It's even more confusing when you wake up in your own bed with that feeling.

On my first sleep at home after spending about 10 days in Kenya, one could say I needed an adaptation period. The landscape of my room looked pretty unfamiliar too... Though that could be because it was 3:45 AM and I had been more or less awake for 28 hours, traveling from Nairobi to London, London to Toronto, and being interminably delayed in Toronto before finally arriving in Montreal.

Remember the travel delay at the beginning of my trip? The train to Ottawa? Well, I guess it was just fate that my trip should end the same way. Told you it was an omen!

Luckily, the bulk of my trip, from Day 1 to... what day are we today? went more than smoothly. We visited multiple projects a day, spent a lot of time in matatu-like buses, often snoozing because many of the days had scattered schedules that made for not so much eating time. There were times when lunch was at 5pm, and breakfast had been at 7am!

All in all though, it was worth it. More than worth it! I've got loads of pictures and videos to sort through, stories to tell with all the knowledge I accumulated, and I met people, both AKFC Awareness buddies and those aided by the projects, that I will never forget.

It was a lot to take in and I'm not sure I've figured any of it out yet, so I might take a few days to put my thoughts in order. Good thing I took some notes!! The pictures will also be a great memory aid. Hopefully, I'll be able to enlighten you with more details on what we saw and experienced throughout this once-in-a-lifetime journey.

I promise to update soon, so stay tuned...

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On a side note, and a very emotional one, the first news story I saw after coming home from Kenya was a report on the death of two men in a helicopter crash in Quebec. One of them was my buddy Hugh Haugland, longtime cameraman for CTV, who was a kind and inspiring person, funny and dedicated, and a mentor to me. I remember him saying he longed to go to Afghanistan, as dangerous stories were his specialty - he covered 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, etc - but was going to respect his family's wishes and stay out of seemingly unavoidable harm's way.

My condolences go out to anyone who ever had the good fortune to hang out with this great guy. It is a sad day for us all.

Hugh, you will be missed.