10:30 AM.
That is the time you see on your alarm clock. You sleepily look at it and turn slowly towards the other side of your bed before opening your eyes and jumping out of bed.
You cannot believe it! If you do not rush to the shower and leave your home in the next twenty minutes, you will be late on your first day of work. And you cannot be late! This is your first real job and you do need it to pay your bills.
I didn’t realise she was going to tell me something so personal!
To be honest, when I woke up this morning and knew that instead of sweet Friday, it was a plain Tuesday, I did not expect much out of the day. Tuesday is generally spent wondering where I went wrong in life and why I did not stick with accounting in university. If I hadn’t left that program, I am adamant that I would not be juggling three part-time jobs and that I would not be stuck behind the information desk at a local mall.
However, that particular Tuesday brought wonder, astonishment and incredulity to my life.
My coworker Stella, as soon as she saw me…
It is 5 o’clock and in the depth of the house a song can be heard. Yes, “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” can be heard and the owner of the house, taken away from a dreamless sleep, opens their eyes. Like every morning in the past five years, they sit by the side of the bed, drink a sip of water and head to the bathroom: it is the start of the morning routine.
It is now 5:45 AM and there is now activity in the living room and in the kitchen. A television is mutely blasting news from all around the world (also known as Ontario, Canada) and the coffee maker is waking up to make a delicious Americano. While the coffee is brewing, they are fixing their outfit. Is there any spots? Does it all smell good? Have I forgotten something? As they ask themselves more questions about the way they look, the coffeemaker has done its job: the coffee can now accompany its master to work.
In a world where all options need to be evaluated and reassessed before making a choice, knowing your alternatives is primordial. It is often what can save one’s life.
In a world where alternatives matter more than gold, it is rare to see a soul unbothered by their choices, untouched by bouts of stress and anxiety. However, that is how James lives their life. Their decision on living away from what is expected, ironically makes them the most important alternative this world has needed since its creation. James is living embodiment of a new world, a world we solely need.
“Get down from there right this second, you headache of a person!”
“But daaaad! I just tried to jump as high as I could. It’s not my fault if I’ve reached the top of this tree”
“Baby, please come down before you are seen!”
“Okay…”
As I see my son jumps down and gently land on the grass, I can’t help but be anxious. Has anyone seen him? Has anyone understood that what they saw was not a mirage, that it was real?
I am scared that my son will be discovered and that like his other dad, he will be taken away from me. I would not be able to function if I were to lose to the same thing the living embodiment of my love.
I hope he will understand why I need to be strict and curb his natural tendencies to test his limits, his abilities.
In a cold world like the one we live in, difference is erased and never will I let my son experience such hardships.
I will, as I promised my heart, always protect him. Always.
8:00 AM. Time is of the essence. We need to catch the bus.
One last check. Do we all have our tickets, our passports, our luggage? Have we all checked our rooms, closed the windows and made our beds?
Great. We are ready and nothing is amiss. We leave the house and run: the bus is early.
We run and run and run and, luckily, make our bus. We take a seat side by side near the end of the bus.
I look at her and she looks at me. We smile. As the house grows tinier and tinier as the bus leave the neighbourhood, I laugh. We both laugh. We left!
We are finally free…
Nous pensions tous qu’Élie serait un artiste. Jamais, nous n’aurions cru que l’inviter voir une partie de baseball changerait sa vie. Mais nos recherches nous ont permis de mieux comprendre comme Élie Watson est devenu un des plus grands joueurs de baseball de l’histoire du sport.
Voici un extrait tiré de ses correspondances : « … avoir cette chance inopinée de pleinement grandir dans une vocation qui ne se serait jamais présenté à moi si je n’avais pas, d’un coup de tête, attrapé et relancé une balle perdue vers le terrain. Ce geste inconscient m’a ouvert des portes inimaginables. Cependant, il a souvent été au cœur de nombreuses anxiétés et crises d’estime de soi. Il n’est pas facile de découvrir un talent si rare et unique et de pouvoir en vivre sans créer des raz-de-marées autour de soi, sans découvrir le vrai visage de son entourage. Découvrir ce type de réflexe à un âge aussi avancé pour ce sport a été un moment que je ne pouvais décrire à mes 17 and et que je n’arrive toujours pas à décrire du haut de ma carrière… ».
Biology 101 The bane of my existence. Never have cells, bones, life bores me to death But I tried, oh I tried!
Biology 101 The reason I met Constance Never have I ever wished for someone bad health But I did, oh yes I did!
Biology 101 The only path to patience Never have I known that with effort all can melt But it happened, it did.
Biology 101 Without you, never would have I gained such a friend. Without me, never would you have gone through so many teachable moments…
In a way, this is a happy ending for the both of us.
I sit, waiting for the metro to bring me to my station but, as luck never seems to be on my side, I hear her voice. In her calm and clear tone of voice, she says “Interruption de service. Une porte bloquée ou retenue empêche le départ du métro”. While her words wash over me, I can see, at the corner of my eyes, two people getting up from their seats. They move quickly and I can’t help but turn around. There I see it, the reason why her voice resonated on my way home: someone fell and lies between two doors. My two neighbours are trying to help them up. Instead of hearing some huffing and puffing, I hear screams, gut-wrenching screams.
I sit, but instead of being in the metro, I am sitting on a bench at Papineau, trying to make sense of her voice: “Are you okay? Can you tell me what happened, what you saw?”
I held on and tried to climb up because I had no other choice. Letting go meant letting go of my only chance of proving myself, my only chance of being more than a wallflower. I had to prove it to them that I was not afraid, that I never was afraid. They thought they could bind me to their will but I held on. I did and I will show them.
