An Unexpected Crossroads; Staying or Leaving The Comfort Zone

A KIND OF UNEXPECTED CAREER CROSSROADS, AND I DID HAVE TO MAKED A DECISION ABOUT STAYING, OR HITTING THE ROAD

I SAW OPPORTUNITIES I'D NEVER BEEN EXPOSED TO BEFORE - MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!

     IT WAS ABOUT HALF WAY THROUGH THE RECOGNITION EVENT, AT THE WORLD FAMOUS LONGWOOD GARDENS, IN PENNSYLVANIA, THAT I FOUND MYSELF AT ONE OF THOSE INTERESTING CROSSROADS, LIFE HAS A HABIT OF LAYING DOWN, JUST TO PROVIDE A LITTLE EXCITEMENT TO A DULL EXISTENCE. YUP, I WAS SIPPING WINE, AND ENJOYING A BACON WRAPPED SCALLOP, AND BRUSHING ELBOWS WITH BANK EXECUTIVES AND POLITICIANS. I DID HAPPEN TO LOOK DOWN, SEVERAL TIMES, AT MY CRAPPY SHOES, THAT I HAD ALMOST TORN APART AT THE HOTEL. SEEING AS I HADN'T BEEN EXPECTING THIS TRIP TO SEE ROGER, I HAD ONLY A MATTER OF HOURS, WHEN THE INVITATION CAME, TO OUTFIT MYSELF FOR SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THIS WOULD MEAN, LATER IN THE WEEK, AND I DIDN'T EVEN OWN A SUIT. I WAS USED TO DRESSING LIKE AN ANTIQUE DEALER WHO HAD JUST REFINISHED SOMETHING, OR A REPORTER, JUST COMING BACK FROM AN ASSIGNMENT….COVERING A FIRE OR BUILDING DEMOLITION. THE MISHAP AT THE HOTEL, WAS A ROUTINE TURN AT THE ELECTRIC SHOE POLISHER, SITUATED FOR MY CONVENIENCE, OUTSIDE THE BATHROOM DOOR. I'D NEVER USED ONE BEFORE, AS IF I WAS A NATIVE OF HOOTERVILLE, OR BUGTUSTLE, AND I APPARENTLY KEPT THE TOP OF MY SHOE UNDER THE BRUSHES FOR TOO LONG. THIS EXPLAINED WHY PORTIONS OF MY SHOE WERE FLYING WITH TORNADO-LIKE WHIP, ALL OVER THE ROOM. I WAS PRETTY MUCH DOWN TO SOLE AND SOCK, WITH THE TOE OF THE SHOE STILL INTACT. I WAS A POOR WRITER AND A POORER ANTIQUE DEALER, STANDING WITH FINE WINE AND RICH FOOD, BUT ONLY PART OF MY SHOES. YES THIS WAS A CROSSROADS. I NEEDED IMPROVEMENTS IN MY LIFE, AND THIS WAS LOOKING LIKE THE KIND OF SPARK I COULD USE TO RELAUNCH MY WRITING CAREER. THE FIRST TASK. GETTING NEW SHOES FOR THE NEXT DAY'S OUTING.

     I WAS THERE AS A GUEST OF ROGER CROZIER, AN EXECUTIVE WITH MBNA, AS HE RECEIVED A CITIZENSHIP AWARD FROM THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA. ROGER WAS BEST KNOWN AS THE ALLSTAR GOALTENDER WITH THE DETROIT RED WINGS OF THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE, BACK IN THE DAYS OF THE ORIGINAL SIX TEAMS. HE HAD ALSO PLAYED NET FOR THE BUFFALO SABRES AND THE WASHINGTON CAPITALS, BEFORE JOINING MBNA. ROGER WAS BORN IN BRACEBRIDGE, ONTARIO, AND I HAD THE GREAT PRIVILEGE OF WORKING FOR HIS CHARITY FOR CHILDREN, KNOWN AS THE CROZIER FOUNDATION, AS WELL AS BEING APPOINTED CURATOR OF THE BRACEBRIDGE SPORTS HALL OF FAME, AN EXHIBIT CASE AT THE BRACEBRIDGE ARENA, THE CROZIER FOUNDATION BUILT FOLLOWING HIS DEATH IN THE MID 1990'S.

     I WAS AT THE LONGWOOD GARDENS PARTY, WHICH WAS PRETTY INCREDIBLE, WITH LOTS OF DIGNITARIES (NONE I ACTUALLY KNEW), BECAUSE I HAD BEEN WORKING ON A PRELIMINARY TEXT FOR A BOOK I WANTED TO AUTHOR ON HIS LIFE IN HOCKEY. WHILE THE BOOK WAS TAKEN OVER BY MBNA EVENTUALLY, AND I BECAME ONE OF TWO RESEARCHERS, WORKING WITH TWO WELL KNOWN SPORTS WRITERS, IN THE UNITED STATES, AT THIS POINT, I HAD ALREADY PUBLISHED PART ONE OF THE STORY, IN A SPECIAL FEATURE MAGAZINE RELEASED BY MUSKOKA PUBLICATIONS. ROGER WANTED ME TO SEE WHAT HIS NEW PROFESSION WAS ALL ABOUT, AND HE SENT A CORPORATE JET FOR MYSELF, HIS LONG-TIME FRIEND, JACK HUCKLE, AND HIS MOTHER, AND WE HAD A FANTASTIC TIME AMIDST THE BEAUTIFUL PLANTS HOUSED AT LONGWOOD GARDENS, AND DURING A LATER DINNER AT A CHARMING PENNSYLVANIA INN, PERFECT FOR AN ANTIQUE DEALER LIKE ME. BUT THE WHOLE PACKAGE DID MAKE ME THINK, ABOUT OPPORTUNITIES OUTSIDE OF MUSKOKA, AND SPECIFICALLY GRAVENHURST, IN BOTH WRITING AND MY PASSION FOR BUYING AND SELLING ANTIQUES. THIS NIGHT OF BEING PAMPERED IN SUCH AMAZING ENVIRONS, GOT ME THINKING SERIOUSLY, ABOUT GRASPING THE OLD BRASS RING, AND TAKING UP MORE LUCRATIVE OPPORTUNITIES SOUTH OF THE BORDER. I CAME CLOSE. NOT ON THIS TRIP BUT TWO YEARS INTO MY RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CROZIER FOUNDATION. I HAD PRETTY MUCH CONVINCED SUZANNE WE NEEDED TO MOVE. I HAD ALREADY DECIDED THAT THERE WERE MORE ADVANTAGES ELSEWHERE, AND IT WAS WHAT MY WRITING MATES HAD TOLD ME BACK IN MY EDITORIAL DAYS WITH THE HERALD-GAZETTE IN BRACEBRIDGE. "IF YOU WANT BIG THINGS IN WRITING TED, YOU CAN'T ACHIEVE IT LIVING IN MUSKOKA." SO I TOLD HIM HE WAS FULL OF CRAP, AND IT CAME TO BLOWS. IRONICALLY, IT WAS OUTSIDE ONE OF THE PRESS CLUB WATERING HOLES. HE WAS RIGHT IN SOME WAYS, WRONG IN OTHERS. SO MANY YEARS LATER, STANDING IN THE FLORAL GOOD GRACES OF LONGWOOD GARDENS, I WAS ABOUT NINETY PERCENT SURE MY FRIEND HAD BEEN ABSOLUTELY CORRECT, BECAUSE I COULD SEE A MUCH BETTER, MORE PROFITABLE LIFE IN THIS REGION OF THE CONTINENT.

WHAT STOPPED ME, WAS THAT ENDURING SENSE OF PERSONAL HISTORY, WHERE, FOR ME, THE GRASS WAS ALWAYS GREENER ON THE HOME SIDE

     I worked for months and months on Roger's future book, and after he passed away, I remember feeling crushed, and lost, because I really wanted to know more about the banker, "Roger Crozier," who had made such great strides in the business world, after his successful hockey career. I would have done just about anything to have had the opportunity to work closer with Roger, and it was still a big thrill, to have been asked to be his public relations director, for the Muskoka chapter of the Crozier Foundation. I remember him calling me, one summer morning in August, and telling me that he needed me to stay at the post, of the new foundation, and that a future Hall of Fame was coming to town. I just didn't know how sick he was at the time, and that he would pass away only a few months later. I remained with the Foundation for twelve years, and I felt honored to be a part of what he had planned for the future…..knowing full well, he would be a part of it, in name only.

     I can't really say when I changed my mind about moving south, and grasping up those research and writing opportunities I was aware of……and might have been a worthy candidate. Our family had spent a great deal of time in the United States when I was younger, and I'd often toyed with the idea of trying to anchor myself there permanently. I thought about the words of my writing colleague, and he hadn't been the only associate who had told me the same thing. "Get out of your comfort zone…..and go write something, somewhere else!"

     Around this period, I was spending a lot of time with my book collector chum, Dave Brown, a career outdoor educator in Ontario, from Hamilton. I spent a lot of summer nights, sitting out on our verandah with Dave, sipping wine, and enjoying the view over The Bog. I was also working on Dave's biography, as well as Roger's, and it was quite an interesting confluence, between the facts of a former NHL goaltender / bank executive, and the life accomplishments of an outdoor education guru / old book collector; both by the way, who would pass away before I could complete the manuscript. Roger had a huge impact on me, and made it clear, in our conversations, that success could be achieved anywhere at any time, based on one's ability to do the best work possible. To say that Roger Crozier challenged me, to improve myself, is a gross understatement. His belief in me, was greater than my own confidence in "me." He gave me opportunities that I would never have received otherwise, and I took every one that I was offered. Dave Brown, far more subtle, and laid back, inspired me to re-examine the place I lived….the home district, and he invited me to participate in nature walks, through the hinterland, side by side his wide-eyed students. It was a strange period in my life, and a curious coupling of personalities, both impacting me greatly, about future pursuits.

     I bring this up, as a wee bit of personal biography, for my boys, in part, who never knew how close they were, to becoming transplants in the United States, due to dear old dad's employment. Well, obviously, I didn't move south, although I had numerous chances to do so. Dave Brown pushed me to work on his biography, and even though he knew he was not going to survive for long, led me to believe he and I were going to work jointly on the manuscript. I was left to do it on my own, as a sort of pay-back, for all the good advice he gave me, about becoming more astute regarding the natural history, and pioneer heritage of Muskoka, which fascinated him……and rubbed off on me. What happened, was that I did the book, and it thankfully sold out. But I worked on that publication buzzed by the motivation I acquired, working earlier with Roger. The two men didn't know each other, and they likely wouldn't have gotten along. Both were fiercely independent, and movers and shakers in their respective worlds. Both were kind to me, and understood what made me tick as a writer……what inspired me as an antique collector and dealer. They both gave me reason, to look more closely, at the life Suzanne and I had made for our young boys, here in the Muskoka heartland. Roger had a cottage here, Dave camped in a pup tent where he could find an unoccupied spot, overlooking the beautiful lakeland.

     There are times, when all of us, think about the choices we've made, and whether or not, we did the best for our careers and families, by "staying put," and struggling for gains, however possible to achieve. I sit here now, overlooking the dusk, softly settling-in over The Bog, and Birch Hollow, listening to Suzanne's knitting needles tapping all the live long day; and there is a contentment, that these two fine friends, of long ago, gave me reason to look closer at what magic prevailed around me…..that would always give me something to write about……the kind of inspiring home district, that would always offer me a backdrop to create…..whatever I wanted. I didn't have to leave my hometown, to be successful. I didn't have to write six award winning novels a year to be prosperous; or carry home a Pulitzer from an award ceremony, to qualify as the writer-kind. I don't know if I would have been half as successful, if I had jumped at the chance to move south, in the mid 1990's. All I know, is that our sons, Andrew and Robert, went to school in Gravenhurst, graduated here and opened up their own business eight years ago, and are now getting ready to expand once again in the vintage music and antique trade; so I get a little pang of worry, thinking how I could have screwed this up by insisting we move to further my career. Maybe the same scenario would have played out, and they would have opened a small music shop in Pennsylvania instead. But you know, I'm happy the way it all turned out. I have lived the wonderful days of a writer in residence, here at Birch Hollow, and feel that Suzanne made the right decision when she transferred from Bracebridge to Gravenhurst High School, way back when, and that her retirement from teaching, this June, and rise to captaincy, as the manager of "The Cookery Nookery," will be seen as a similar positive turn of fate here at home.

     There are days when I get furious about politics in this community. Occasions when I want to fire off vicious editorials, and fire-laden blogs, about the foibles of our elected officials, who seem so disconnected from the community they represent……and then, all of a sudden, sitting in a chair like this, looking at the most beautiful lilacs in the neighborhood, I just fall back on the sage advice of my good friends, who were the first to encourage me to focus……when the panorama I was seeing, frustrated me to a damning inaction. I seriously want to challenge the town councillors of this town, on so many different levels, and I even feel it is my civic duty, yet as a strange contradiction, I can be content these days, to let fate play its hand, and watch from the bleachers, as the folly barrels-off into the chronicles of town life and times. Some things just have to find their own level, regardless how rigorous and difficult this may be…..like following carefully, the elephants in the very next parade.

     I'm home. I'm happy. I'm writing daily, hustling antiques, selling a few, and looking forward to being an apprentice once again, this time as a runner for Suzanne Currie's "Cookery Nookery." It will be ready by July 1st, if you wish to drop in for a visit, to the old Muskoka Theatre Building on Muskoka Road. Thanks so much for joining me today. It's always a pleasure.

Please visit my other blog http://muskokaaswaldenpond.blogspot.ca