Life of James

 Today's song is: Happy by Pharrell Wiliams

I thought I would reflect on my life. Why, because I often do so on my morning 2.5 km walk at about 6:30 am. Here are some thoughts I had.

My first decade was pretty uneventful. The 50's were 'Leave it to Beaver' on TV. Not that there was much on TV with 2 channels and TVs were black and white until late in the decade. Ice cream cones were 5 cents and the milk arrived on your doorstep (as well as bread) pulled by horses that gave way to trucks later in the decade. Children died of diseases such as the red measels as anti biotics and vaccinations were still not the norm.

My second decade, the 60's were a decade of change as the Beatles arrived in 1964 and the yohawks with long hair fought the greasers who were clinging on to the old ways of Bobby Vinton and other singers of the 50's. It was the decade of the Cuban Missile crises and air raid sirens were installed across Canada and were tested regularly which scared the crap out of us. This decade was also the start of my teenage (troubled age) years. It was also the decade that my dad abandonned our family during his mid life crises. My Mom also went out to work for the first time. I started playing high school football (which I excelled at) and started working fast food outlets such as A&W and Harveys. I bought my first motorcycle at the end of this decade which started a life long love of biking.

The next decade saw me working at my first job at Carleton University in the library. I did that for 2.5 years while studying part-time at night. I decided to enroll full-time and play football again at Carleton and had a fairly successful 4 years until succumbing to injury. At this time I also worked as a bouncer in the University pub. I also moved in with a girl I met clubbing and spent 4 years with her until my first wife showed up job interviews at the pub. I eventually decided to graduate and went to work at the Royal Bank in Kitchener/Waterloo. My wife and I were married at Christmas in 1977. In the summer of 1978 I quit the bank and attended the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa. In September of 1979 I started teaching in grade 4 in the Ottawa Catholic Board.

The next decade, the 80's saw me develop a love of coaching basketball, first at the grade 7/8 level and subsequently at St. Pius X HS. I also developed a love for computer technology, teaching Computer Science at St. Pius and subsequently moving to the board office as a special assignment teacher in Computer Science. From 1979 to 2009 were my career years and they were very successful in terms of coaching, my career, and raising 2 superb children. I retired as a Coordinator of IT and Learning Technologies winning a few awards along the way. I also won the Ottawa High School Athletic Associations coach of the year award in 2005.

In 2009 I decided to retire and not hang arond the board as many retirees seemed to do. My wife could not stand the thought of me not working and she pressured me into teaching overseas which eventually lead to the end of our marriage. Be careful what you wish for.

The decade of 2010-2020 was a decade finding myself and embarking on new adventures. It was a time of walking on the wild side and seeking personal happiness. It ended up with a second marriage to a beautiful. joyful,and thankful Thai lady as well as a  new child at my age of 63. As a buddy once said, 'Children are God's Gift to Mankind'.

So here I am in my 7th decade, having declared myself a minimalist, and enjoying life (except for Covid). You have to remember that 'Life is not a dress rehearsal, you only go around once. Don't fool around, buy a round, and keep smiling as your glass is always at least half full'. If it isn't. you have no one to blame but yourself.

TTYL