Category: Uncategorized

Don’t be a Douche

On By thestampsinmypassportIn Uncategorized1 Comment

I want to share something that happened on the weekend, but what I really want to share is not about what happened, but about how “we” (the generic we) are operating in society and how ‘effed’ up the world is right now.

The very short story is that I tripped in my condo and fell into the glass end table. After doing my own vitals check (did I break any teeth, am I bleeding from my mouth, did my glasses break), I had to figure out how to get up from the position I was in. It was then that I realized I was bleeding from my head. I got up and called my mother and then 911.

It took about 20 minutes for EMS to arrive at my condo. Two amazing first responders arrived and starting doing their assessment of my injury. About five minutes later, my mother arrived at the condo. She called and was asking if they had arrived because she didn’t see the ambulance in the driveway. I said to them, “where did you park”, to which they said at the back of the building. (yes, it was a Seinfeld episode in the making).

Fast forward to walking out of the building with the responders to the ambulance. I was able to walk out of the building holding a compress on my head. The concierge advised the responders that they could exit the parking lot from the entry (it is one way) he has lifted the gate for them. (I had no idea how they were parked, I need to add).

We exit the building and there is a woman standing in the parking lot and she yelled to the responders, “no one can get through with you parked like this”. Seriously lady, what is wrong with you?! I looked at her and said, “Someone had an emergency, they don’t really give a shit that you can’t get through”. She immediately backed the F up and said, ” Of course, I totally understand that”. Right.

The last paragraph was the point of this point. What is wrong with humanity? Had I come out of the building on the stretcher and not walking out on my own, would she have opened her fat effing mouth like a crazy person, or would she have had the decency to let the responders do what they need to do, to take care of us.

One final anecdotal piece of the story. When my mother walked into the condo, she looked at one of the responders, Daniel and said, “I’ve met you before”. He joked, I hoped it was a good meeting. She replied it was, you helped my husband once in our condo. I have said it many times since my dad passed away, I am so very grateful for first responders.

Please know that I am okay. Stiches and a sore body, but I am good. Very grateful to have a hybrid work environment where I can stay home and still be working effectively.

If you see a first responder, say thank you to them.

Today is done

On By thestampsinmypassportIn Uncategorized1 Comment

“Life is amazing. And then it’s awful. And then it’s amazing again. And in between the amazing and the awful, it’s ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That’s just living heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it’s breathtakingly beautiful.” – L.R. Knost

Today was Father’s Day. The first one without my dad. I woke up early this morning and had made the conscious decision to stay off social media as best as possible. It is one of those things we have come so accustom to in life, the act of sharing our lives with people we know, and people we don’t. In other years, I would share my own photos, like everyone else’s in my feed and follow along with everyone’s festivities of the day, and gratitude for the dad(s) in their lives.

Today I found myself messaging several of my personal connections who have also lost dad’s since last Father’s Day. There are a lot of people in my life that have lost parents this year, and many have lost dads. I also received lots of messages of love and kindness, and I will always be grateful to those who have reached out today and in the past seven months.

For me, I chose to spend the day with my mom and my aunt out of the city, and as best as possible, off my phone. We drove to Elora, walked around the town and then went to a park where we had a picnic. It was wonderful, my dad always wanted to eat outside. When we had our house, he would always champion for summer meals to be outdoors, but my mother usually won that battle and we ate inside. Today, being in the park, was quiet, reflecting and so peaceful. We laughed and talked about my dad’s 75 birthday in 2020 being in the park across from my condo and being kicked out of the park because it was closed due to Covid. It was only four years ago, but yet, feels like a lifetime ago.

We are more than half way through the ‘year of firsts’. People in your life try their best to say how it feels as you go through these days, but honestly, I wouldn’t really give anyone advice about how it feels, because it is different for everyone. You do your best to go through the motions and movements, but basically, it sucks. The person you love, isn’t here. There is no way around that, you need to go through it to get through it.

For anyone who is reading this who also had their first Father’s Day without their dad, you are in my thoughts. May we all continue to move through this part of life with grace and gratitude. Grief is the price of love and the harder the grief, the deeper the love.

Sending you light and love,

Lisa

You live you learn, or you miss the boat

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This morning while getting ready for work, I was watching morning television and they were discussing an unfortunate experience that eight passengers had while cruising on Norweigan cruise lines in Africa. As the story was told, these passengers booked a private tour (not from the ship) and the tour ran late and by the time they arrived back at the ship, it was too late. Even though the ship was still tendered in the port, the last tender had arrived at the ship they were departing without the passengers.

I had so many thoughts as I watched this piece on tv this morning and have since read reports from different sources on line. As much as I feel badly for these folks, I have to be honest, I feel the same way as I feel about those who do not buy insurance when they travel, risks are risks. Booking an independent private tour when you are in port is risking, if your tour runs into delays, the ship does not know where you are, or who you are with. They have a fixed, finite time when they have to pull out of port. Period. Full stop.

I should include that this was not a cruise itinerary that was docking in Nassau Bahamas for the day, where you can easily get around on your own, and do not have to take a tour from the ship. This was a three week cruise in Africa. This port was the Central African island nation of Sao Tome and Principe (yes I had to google it). This is an island and the guests missed the last tender back to the ship. The story continues with the passengers travelling through six African countries to catch up with the ship. They are still not back on board, but hope to be when the ship arrives in Senegal today.

This is a story that happens probably more than you would think, and if it weren’t for the fact that this happened in Africa, I am not sure if it would be newsworthy. If someone missed the ship in Nassau and the next port was Jamaica, they would hop on a plane and catch up with the ship. It almost happened to my aunt and I in Barcelona.

We were docked in Barcelona for the day and took the hop on hop off bus, as I recommend to everyone to do in any city that has one. We ended our self directed tour by spending time in Las Ramblas. If you have ever been to Barcelona you know how much fun that area is and how you could very easily lose track of time. We did just that. It became a scene out of amazing race, walking as fast as we could back to the ship. There were people on the top deck waving and cheering us on as we approached the ship. We got to the gangway and as soon as we were on board, they pulled it up behind us and the ship left. If we were five minutes later, we would have been waving back at all the passengers on the top deck – from the port!

I always told my cruise clients that excursions can be pricy but should be looked at as part of your trip costs. Plan and book in advance, as popular excursions will sell out with the cruise line. If you book with the cruise line, the ship knows where you are and your bus is at all times. They will know if you are going to be late and they will adjust the times accordingly. If you book on your own, it really is buyer beware, the ship will not know where you are and as these people found out, will not wait for you if you are late.

There will be some PR fall out for the cruise line, but all passengers have now joined the ship when it arrived in Dakar, Senegal. They will have a story to last a lifetime, and in time, they will find a laugh in the crazy time they had on their African Adventure!

life is but a dream!