I sometimes think that God or some relative version of this
or my extraordinary fantasy illusion driven mind, is playing with me. This Canada day, here in Wakefield, the theme was “Tiguido” or “come
out and play”, and the creator’s creative juices were playing big time with me.
On a last minute decision, I decided that Phil Cohen is
absolutely right, and it was time for me to be in the parade instead of just
watching it go by. I was determined to make this my best Canada Day ever. So
I volunteered the day before and on a picture perfect hot afternoon, went over
to our community centre to join a surprising large number of volunteers to do
whatever needed to be done to make this event a memorable occasion. I ended up
making balloons, hundreds if not thousands of em, and tying them to strings
and attaching them to every post around the parade route through our wonderful village.
I ended up doing this with Mel, who like me, had
recently seen the light, and has decided to leave the boozing and smoking
behind for a life of more here and now clean living. We went through the
village and had a ball with others laying out tiny Canada flags, posting bouquets of
balloons all over the place. Five hours passed before I ended the stint as it
started, with a jump in the cool river off my dock.
Next day I decided to be in the parade and hunted down my
red shirt, my red tambourine and completed it with a small Canada flag hooked
to the end of my fishing rod (I was telling people I caught the flag that
morning in the Gatineau river off my deck). Off to Vorlage I went, everything
felt perfect when I got there and I knew this had been the right decision. I
gravitated to Pirreotte’s amazing drummers huddled in a decorated wagon with
Mailin pulling them with a red car. The parade was a hoot for me, shaking my tambourine
as I danced along side the wagon of drummers, matching my rhythm with the
drumming. The crowd and sea of red and white alongside the festive balloons we
set up the night before, was intoxicating as the sky rumbled and threatened to
rain on our parade, but it didn’t yield more than a few tantalizing drops for
this warm up event. The crowds were incredible, I saw Wayne and Sue on George’s
perch and pointed my tambourine at them with a big smile to let them know I had
found my place for now in this parade of life. The drummers were not always
playing in the key of tambourine, but I put on the best show I could.
The festivities began with children singing on Jamie
Robertson’s improvised army tent stage that volunteers had lovingly put
together until the rumbling sky saturated with energy and lightening, exploded
with perfect timing into a torrential downpour which felt like the stuff of
legendary happenings akin to Woodstock. Of course, I’m inspired by Phil Cohen
who by now has a front seat to Armageddon, just like his poem, taking credit
for this magnificent occasion under nature’s wonder. I decide to join the kids
and the IGA mascot “Tiga” to get out there and “play” in the downpour in my
bare feet. Along the way, I joined a few kids to jump in huge gathering
puddles, only to hear one of them say that this is the best Canada day
ever, and they wished it would rain like this every year! I couldn’t agree
more. Soaked and having way too much fun for an older man, the rain finally
stopped and the sun came out again with perfect timing to let the festivities
continue without a hitch.
Finally warmed and dried up, I decided to head home for a
siesta by walking back to Phil’s house via the nature trail behind the centre.
As I watched the 5 partridges pop out of an old tree by the path, I could hear
children on stage singing a beautiful song that made them sound like angels.
The words touched and soothed me deeply as they seemed to be speaking directly
to me, “you thought you were all alone, don’t you cry to your mother, everything is going to be alright”. Yes, life
can be beautiful and mysterious.
I got home and had a swim and cozied up on dozed off with my
cat on the couch in my gazebo, watching the boats and puffy grey and white clouds
gather until another spectacular storm erupted like a lullaby for me. My new
neighbor Roberta comes over to ask if I want to go back to the festivities with
her and friends for part two of the games. It’s a few hours later and now the
music is in full swing and dinner being served up. I splurge with my friends to
treat myself with a cold beer that tastes like the nectar of the Gods for me in
its rarity and perfect timing. I’m sitting by a picnic table enjoying the
presence of good friends and great music and I look over to see a man that
looks like my now rather famous friend, Dr. James Orbinski from Trent University.
I go to mention this to Roberta, who also knows James from Trent university as well, and we both said at
the same time that it looks like him. I said there’s no way he could be here and
it must be a look a like. She goes over later to talk with him and comes up to
me later to confirm that it was indeed him. Me feeling a bit daunted and shy
after all these years, and now he’s like a celebrity with his work with MSF and
his rather significant achievement of winning the Nobel peace prize.
I wait for my moment and it finally comes, so I walk up to
him, look him straight in the eyes with a smile and shake his hand. He
recognizes me immediately and we hug each other like old friends should after
30 years not seeing or hearing from each other. We end up hanging out for the
rest of the evening and talking about everything old and new, I meet his wife,
his buddy Ian Small who he is visiting here,
and his kids and we more than pick up again as good friends should in
such a perfect setting. I still can hardly believe how surreal this all is but
I’m not too surprised because I know that synchronicity is heavy in the air and
the Gods are simply playing with us. All the while the amazing music and good
vibes continues to overflow the moment. James and I and his musical prodigy son
are watching the last band in awe, the Juno winning local band Esmerine that is
playing meditative, drone music to appropriately set the mood.In short, the day
could not have been better.
Next morning I decide to honor my volunteer commitment and
return to the community center to work with another friend and aid worker named
Rink who by no coincidence, knows both James and Ian. The two of us get to know
each other as we take down and store the tents. At first I stopped to ask
another volunteer I admire for his work with children and environmental issues,
Jamie Robertson, if I can help out but he’s been there since 5:30 and all is
under control. I work up my courage and mention to Jamie that I’m looking for
something worthwhile and interesting to do and am available to help him in
future if he needs the help. Another seed of many planted recently in this
seemingly new direction in my life, inspired by the spirit of volunteerism and sincere
desire to turn my life around and join this wonderful community here and the
human race out there.
This wondrous chain of events came to me at 2:30 AM the next
night after a dream, and I decided to get up and record this story so that it
is not ignored or taken for granted as synchronistic events like this have in
the past. It feels like a healing change is in the wind for me and I hope I can
ride this new direction and fulfill my dreams of finding happiness and meaning
in my modest life. Perhaps like many others out there, I still feel lost, sad
and confused sometimes, but old and new friends are appearing out of the blue
to remind me that I’m loved and I belong as much as anyone. I feel very
inspired and reassured that the path will continue to unfold as it should and
the seeds I plant along the way will reach fruition and provide me with what I
deserve and need in life. The Rolling Stones said it all, “you can’t always get
what you want, but if you try, you sometimes get what you need”.
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