Month: October 2014

Remembering where I started

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Yesterday I went to meet a friend for lunch. I knew what area she worked in and suggested a few places and she mentioned a new sushi place had just opened up. I asked the address and she didn’t remember the street number but told me it was on Don Mills, west side just north of Lawrence.

Of course it was exactly where I thought it was – 1300 Don Mills Road, old home to my very first job in travel – The Last Minute Club. From early 1990 to mid 1993 my home away from home. My first full-time job.

I have so many thoughts about my first job, and the fact that the building is still standing is really humorous actually. That building was “old” in 1990. I had a desk in the corner of the call centre and I would often hear the pattering of feet on/in the roof over my head. Not really ever sure what they were, and I never really wanted to know. It always had temperature issues as you would imagine, never cool enough in summer and never quite warm enough in the winter.

If you were around that ‘hood at time that you would have probably have gone to O’Tooles. That was the restaurant/bar that was in the building. And after that, there was Last Harry’s which was homage to the former owner of The Last Minute Club, whose name was of course Harry and a legend in his own mind.

That was also ‘back in the day’ where people could still smoke inside buildings. There we were, in one big call centre, with cubicles and no walls, and yet there was a smoking and a non smoking side of the room. Smoke still wafted through the whole room not matter what side you were on. There was also a smoking lunch room and a non smoking lunch room, with a window in between. You could see the smoked filled room through the window, and wonder how anyone could spend any amount of time there, let alone each lunch there.

If you ever watched friends, do you remember when Rachel had to smoke because her employer smoked and all the ‘good’ stuff happens outside? Well, that is what the back door was like at the office. All the smokers would gather around the back door (especially in the winter when it was cold) and if you wanted to find out the real scoop, you needed to be ‘part of the group’. Sometimes I would go out and get ‘air’ just to chat and catch up.

It was a family run company, which are far and few between now. There were random pizza days, there were summer barbeques where you could bring your family. We even got to have champagne and caviar with Robin Leach when he was the spokesperson for The Last Minute Club.

I went on my first FAM (agent) trip with a group – to Jamaica. I was just laughing with a friend about that last week.

A lifetime ago. I am not being dramatic about it. It was more than half my life ago. A real lifetime ago. It was a great place to build a foundation on. A foundation that lasted twenty-four years. Crazy to imagine.

It is nice to look back at good times.

Thank you, Puff the Magic Dragon

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Loved Puff as a child and now I know “the rest of the story”….

Lenny Lipton's avatarLenny Lipton

Puff, the Magic Dragon, has been my friend for more than 50 years.  It was in the spring of 1959 that I wrote the poem that became the song Puff, the Magic Dragon.  I was a freshman at Cornell.  I had been at the library at Willard Straight Hall, the Student Union building, and I’d read a sentimental poem about a dragon by Ogden Nash.  As I walked down State Street to the apartment of Peter Yarrow – who became the “Peter” of Peter, Paul and Mary, and who set my poem to music – I thought to myself, “I can do better than Ogden Nash’s poem about a dragon.”  Maybe I did.

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How I Kept it Together

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For the last several weeks you have probably seen a lot of advertisements for Shabbat Project, a global event celebrating Shabbat across the world. There was countless advertisements on facebook, through the different Synagogue communities, signs all over this city.

What does it all mean? Well, in very simple terms, Shabbat is a 25 hour period where we disconnect to be connected. Sounds complicated, you would think? Well, I am here to tell you that yesterday I did just that. I disconnected and became REALLY connected, in a way that I wasn’t quite expecting.

I chose to attend Thornhill Woods Shule. It is not within walking distance from my home (well it “could” be, but that is a whole other story). I drove there. It is not all or nothing as Lori Palatnik always says, so there was no issue for me with that.

I was greeted as I always am, with open arms, hugs from the wonderful people in this community. I have known them for over two and half years since I went to Israel with JWRP at they were my hosts for the trip. The women and families of this community are incredible wonderful people. I went on my own, but you can’t be ALONE in a community like this.

I sat down in one of my first two classes of the day. The class was a supplement to the parchat which was being read this week – Parchat Noach. Noah, was a Mensch. What is a Mensch, and how can we relate that to our everyday lives. The discussion affected me in a way I wasn’t prepared for. Due to some recent events in my life, I have been faced with many questions and it brought me to tears. The women were so compassionate in this class and it continued all day long.

After the class was a wonderful Shabbat lunch. I was again welcome to sit with my friends and their families. We ate, sang, and listened to words about community and how even though this is a special Shabbat, that every Shabbat is warm and welcoming and we should all come all the time.

After lunch was over, my friends asked me to come back to their house and stay in the community. I was more than happy to do that. We walked to their house, and sat and had tea and more discussion.

Another friend knocked on the door at 415 to walk to another house in the community for another class. This class was also on a similar theme and again, brought me to tears.  I was told a couple of years ago by a Rebbitzen that I respect greatly that growth is (and can be at times) painful. But at the end of the pain comes greatness. I felt like I was working through my pain allowing my greatness to come through.

Our last stop of the day was for the Suedah Slisheit, which means the third meal. This was for women and children while the men were at Shule and having their own Suedah. This was social and fun and lots of great conversation and lots of time to ask questions from the women who knew much more than I did. At one point I apologized for asking so many questions and someone said, “not to worry, it is a good thing. Sometimes you may ask questions that others who should know but don’t want to ask, and you beat them to it.”

After walking back to my friends house, Shabbat was over. The Havdalah candle was lit, prayers were said, spices smelled, wine sipped and a new week begins.

What did I learn by “Keeping it Together”? More than I can even begin to write about. When I went on the JWRP trip to Israel I went open to all the possibilities and received more than I could have ever imagined.

I had many offers to spend a weekend in the community and spend sundown to sundown connecting. I know that the people who made the offers will ask me again and I promised I would be back.

I was told that this ‘amazing’ day happens, ‘every week’ and that I should come back for more. It was said jokingly, but I think that it needs to be noted. Just because this global Shabbat Project was one 25 hour period, there are people all around us that spend this 25 hour period disconnected every week. There is something to said about it.

I had a wonderful, spiritual, meaningful day “Keeping it Together”.

However you spent your day yesterday, I hope it was wonderful as well.

Shavua Tov everyone! Have a good week.

L