December 16, 2020
Even though, not every December birthday has become an entry into my blog, it has always been the opening of a new chapter of my journey. As I open Chapter 51, I smell the paper of a clean page slating to begin my 51st trip around our sun. I look back in amazement and still wonder where all the years dissolved to, as it seems like only yesterday many of us were in classes together in high school and a few of you I’ve known since my elementary school years in Wayne, MI and then there are those of you who were my extended family at our cottage in Muskoka, Ontario and I never knew a day without you being part of it. I am marking this to be a year filled with reflection on my perseverance, unwavering resolve, gratitude for all I have and appreciation of those in my life.
At my last look on my cell phone at 11:00pm last night, over 300 individual reached out to me either through Facebook posts, phone calls, texts and e-mails too, all wishing me a happy birthday. I want to thank everyone for your birthday wishes. Each birthday wish and every one brought back some memory - or more than one memory. I am blessed to have you all part of my journey on this spaceship we call, Earth. I may not pickup the phone enough to call each of you regularly or even semi-regularly. We may not have always agreed on certain conversations but I know we can say we took time to hear each other and be respectful to each other’s views at the same time. It appears every time when we do get to talk with each other, not only am I ever so grateful we did, but surprisingly, we are able to pick-up exactly where we left off, without skipping a beat.
Those closest to me, already know 2019 was not one of my better years for all that I went through with several surgeries, the great flood in my condo and some other taxing issues. When 2020 rolled around and Covid took over the world, I prociaimed Covid became the cherry on my ice cream sundae. A couple weeks into the fresh new year 2020, I unexpectedly had to help my Li’l Girl, KC cross over the rainbow bridge at almost 19 and still feeling the painful loss almost a year later. The better part of the year was when my Dad’s brother’s (my uncle) oldest son and his wife and teenage sons came to visit Mom and I. This was there first time traveling to the US, never mind Florida and for the most part, I really enjoyed getting to know a part of my family and playing tour guide despite my horrific Hungarian communication skills. I met this cousin 30 years ago in Siofok, Hungary when he drove my Mom and I, along with his Dad around the Lake Balaton. This was the first and only time I met him and his brother and my Dad’s brother and sister in law, along with the majority of both my Dad and Mom’s families of which they too, have not seen since they left Hungary many years prior.
Notwithstanding the pandemic of 2020, I am a firm believer it pays to be positive, because everything has a positive spin. My teachers would comment on progress reports, “Robert’s strength…”, “Robert is flexible…”, “Robert is determined…”, “Robert’s drive to succeed...” which later came from one of my favorite supervisor’s annual review used the words of “resilience and tenacity as being hallmarks of his character which is rarely scene in today’s generation.” This was often tied together with words of require redirection or words of areas I needed to improve, but as I like to say, another story for another post. Over the years, this continues to remain my trademark signature of character not only in my career but in my life as a whole. Often these positive words helped me get through the toughest times of my life; but it has definitely been beneficial through this recent pandemic and taught me lessons which put a positive spin on the pandemic. In light of the not using the many clichés for the Covid-19 pandemic times, I want to share what we took for granted prior to 2020 and the positive lessons to take away.
· We missed our hugging and kissing our friends and families upon greeting them, how about we don’t forget the importance of the human touch and how it was missed and not to be taken for granted ever again.
· Our lives were often hurried March 15 2020, often not having time to do much of anything beyond work and chores at home, I hope we learned to take time to catch up on a phone call to a distant friend, start a new hobby and maybe learn something new.
· Many of us complained about long work days and thought our jobs were indispensable, but if you are still employed and having a paycheck your lucky otherwise you found a new way to provide and survive and we learned to take take a deep breath and enjoy those moments where you have nothing pressing to do.
The lessons learned over the past months, prioritize your priorities, adopt and adapt to change and become better human beings by being respectful of others who may differ from you in opinion, values and beliefs and ultimately we survived.
I know, I know, I was long winded and filled with grammatical taboos, but by now you know my journey is my story and it wouldn’t be the same with just a simple “thank you.” On my closing, may your holiday season be filled with joy of family and friends and the New Year 2021 be with filled with attainable resolutions and prosperity. Most importantly may it be filled with bountiful gratitude and genuine appreciation for what we have in our lives and take time to hear the reply after a “hello - how are you?” and welcome the gradual returning of the human touch.
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