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Blimey... fantastic! Good for youOriginally Posted by Enoch
I remarried this year. My wife was a private client (go on, shoot me) to whom I was introduced eight years ago as in need of help with some financial matters by her financial adviser shortly after her first husband died of cancer. She still is a client but no longer gets a bill and now travels with me and tries to keep me organised as I shuttle between my two offices and various business and professional interests. My staff and clients love her and it appears they all agree she makes me a slightly nicer person, in itself a miracle.
When my wife was widowed she was left with two young children. Losing a parent at 10 or 11 years old is an unimaginable trauma and when a few years later their professional trustee became their mother's partner... Let's just say it wasn't easy at first. But my two wonderful stepchildren have grown into young adults who have enriched my life immeasurably. And helped me to grow up (a bit, and belatedly).
Sorry if this is a self-indulgent post, but I am a very lucky man indeed.
Blimey... fantastic! Good for you
My Dad phoning me up to tell me he had prostate cancer was a big wake up and notification that he is not going to be with us forever. Fortunately now in remission. On a happier note, the arrival of our daughter on 06/11/16 was the obvious highlight along with watching my son grow up.
Sorry to read about your Father. Glad he is now in remission. Have faith. He will have many happy years ahead of him.
Congratulations on the arrival of your daughter also.
All the best
Kapish
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Well done mate! Good for you. Glad to hear you're all clear
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
Received a prestigious prize for work I did in 1986, which has now lead to new therapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis. Very proud.
Mine was my little boy's first birthday. he managed to beat prematurity followed by leukemia and got home in time for his birthday thanks to the efforts of an incredible team at GOSH.
I know i have mentioned him elsewhere in the forum but sat here as a little family for our first proper christmas makes me very happy.
That sounds impressive!
Well done Franco on finally getting recognition 30 yrs laterRA is a wretched condition which has plauged my mum since her mid 30's.
I had a successful total hip replacement in April. I vigorously pursued my rehab program such that I was walking five miles after just five weeks. I was looking forward to resuming my running regimen soon, but I then unwittingly bolted out of my recliner at home to answer a phone call. I felt my hip 'tweak,' and have gone downhill over the past five months. I frequently walk with a limp now from the pain, and my depression-fueled binge eating has added about 50 pounds!
Since my x-rays reveal no damage, my orthopedist keeps patting me on the head, smiling, and saying "give it more time." I plan to make 2017 a much better year.
After reading some of the posting in this thread I am humbled and my defining moment seems quite trivial now. At the ripe old age of 60 I graduated this year from Warwick university, with my third Masters degree giving me a total of five degrees. My wife says that if I start a PhD she will divorce me.
Warmest wishes and good health to every one for 2017
Congratulations...and I empathize with your wife!
Sincerely hope 2017 is a much better year for those good folk here who are not enjoying good health at present. I feel blessed.
My defining moment? Appreciating what I've got as often as possible. Not a 'moment' I know...
Pain Hardship despair - you should go for it.
Let's see:
I got nominated for a national award for my teaching at our version of the oscars, got invited onto a 'committee' which means trips to the house of the lords. Got promoted again.
Starting to edge towards some work with the Swiss simply so I can spend more time looking at watches.
On a personal level pretty much nothing happened - steady as she goes...
Last edited by Alansmithee; 27th December 2016 at 15:37.
Rich choice of defining moments for me: turned 50, quit my job, bought myself into two promising start-ups.
All of them were good choices (at least at the time).To be seen which one will be the defining one when I will be looking back at 2016 in a couple of years. I leave it open for now.
Last edited by Raffe; 29th December 2016 at 00:11.
10 days in May - 5th to the 15th.
May 5 saw the mandatory evacuation of Fort McMurray in northern Alberta as the largest, most destructive wildfire in Canadian history raged around the city. On May 6th, my wife and I drove to Edmonton to meet a friend who had been evacuated and had been driving with her young son for 13hrs and drive their vehicle the final 3hrs to Calgary. On the way south away from the evacuation zone, the trucks and personnel of Canada Task Force 2 (CAN-TF2) - National Disaster Response Team based in Calgary were heading north in convoy on Hwy 2 towards Fort McMurray.
8th May, I was on duty when our deputy commander sought me out at lunchtime and told me that the director of CEMA (Calgary Emergency Management Agency) had requested a scribe to be attached to the CAN-TF2 Phase 2 deployment to Fort McMurray the following day. It took me about 2 seconds to say yes, then it was a case of going shopping for steel toed boots, getting a weeks worth of uniform and civilian clothes packed and report to the staging area at 0600hrs the following morning for pre-deployment medical check and paperwork.
9th May, with all the checks done and waivers signed, we boarded two chartered aircraft and flew up to Fort McMurray, which now had been fully evacuated. We were on final approach into the airport, which had now become a restricted fly zone with only relief effort flights allowed in, and it was like a warzone, huge swathes of charred ground, the buildings totally destroyed, and nothing moving on the roads, it was a surreal sight and it will stay with me forever.
The next week flew by, it was eerie being in a city with absolutely nobody there except the people getting the city back on its feet. I was based in the Emergency Operations Centre on the dayshift working at the Fire Operations Desk, I was in the middle of one of the biggest recovery efforts every mounted in Canada, and was there at both the morning and evening briefings, and the things that were being told to us by the various departments was very scary.
During that week, numerous dignitaries visited the disaster zone, including the PM and were given tours, both on the ground and in the air to see the devastation for themselves, but for me, the most vivid memory of that week, is that of the charismatic English born fire chief, Darby Allen on his final briefing before stepping down as Director of Emergency Management thanking all of us present for our hard work and dedication.
I left a couple of days later with the majority of the people I went up with (a few were deemed essential to hand over to Phase 3 personnel, so the stayed for a few extra days) and we were greeted at Calgary airport by a host of VIP's who told us we all smelt like a bonfire. Handshakes all round, we got our gear, boarded the buses back to CAN-TF2 base for food and debrief. It wasn't until I got home I smelt the pungent smell of smoke, and it took more then 3 weeks outside in the garden to get the smell out of my kit bag.
I carried on following the news after I got home knowing that there is so much information that for operational reasons the media would never know, and approx a week after leaving to come home the fire was slowly being brought under some degree of control. On May 23rd, the fire was estimated to be 522,892 hectares in size and burning far enough away from the city to allow the authorities to think about letting the residents return.
The city is now back up and running, but there are still lots to be done, and it will be years until the city returns to normal, or as close to normal they can before this huge event.
Later that year, at the Calgary Stampede Parade, a selection of those who went north to help in the relief effort were invited to walk in the parade, and I walked shoulder to shoulder with Darby Allen and approx 100 others, and it was one of the proudest moments of my life.
Further info here - http://yourmcmurraymagazine.com/spec...line-of-events
Last edited by CmdrBond; 29th December 2016 at 11:26.
^^^^^
Interesting read... sounds like you did a great job... well done!!!
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