Lifelong Gift

 It is Apri 21, less than two weeks to the end of the program. Nearly every one overwhelmed with the final presentations, various deadlines, next step in life, and many other “what”s and “how”s. Spending a beautiful night, all together, in Anita’s house distances us from our daily frustrations, stresses, and thoughts. For those who do not know, Anita and Brett are our two senior fellows in the Sauvé program. We could seek their support in our professional and personal lives. They contributed a lot to the enrichment of the program. They coloured their presence in our Sauvé life with inviting us for a lovely dinner in Anita’s pretty house.

Our evening was full of deep enjoyments and happiness. We chatted and ate dinner. After, we all sat together and shared memorable minutes together. Anita’s and Brett’s initiative built authentic moments for all of us: giving each of us a tangible lifelong gift. They gave an adjective to each of us, an adjective that best describes our being. Those who know us can say how these words fit us:

  

Thinh: Fearless. We found resonance with this adjective; it can be our impression of Thinh, a young lady who does not stop in what she aims to do. A strong head girl moving forward toward her dreams with fierce steps.  

Naomi: Pioneering. What Naomi is doing with her project is pioneering. But it is more than that. Naomi is pioneering not just in the scale of an enterprise, but also in other aspects of life, which we experienced at Sauvé house.

Tosin: Upstanding. I did not know what this word means. But it adequately describes a man who irons his shirt so crispy, speaks and articulates every syllabus, and is honest and responsible. It well describes Tosin.

Tairah: Tenacious. It is the best description of Tairah’s action on opening the world’s eyes to the reality behind the beautiful scarfs and sweaters of Kashmir. Tairah is determined to show the torturing stories of the largest democracy in the world. Tairah, you need to be tenacious to do what you are doing.

Micah: Remarkable. Those who have experienced the warm hugs of Micah would never forget it. Micah’s openness and willingness to challenge norms catches our attention. Micah is remarkable with hear strength and sweetness.

Jonathan: Sparkling. This adjective describes how Jonathan is intelligent and full of life. Jonathan would remain in our hearts with his smiles and joyful purposes. “Jonathan has exactly the right size bubbles, not too small you do not notice them, not so big that they bug you. It is just likely ever best suits.” Brett.

Mame: Regal. What could better describe Mame’s Great pose and posture, with her fancy dresses and her sweet smiles and deep eyes. Mame is a person who lives in a community and leads the community and is a strong representative of a community.

Handy: Romantic. A man who thinks with his heart. A man who does not think linearly. Handy embodies romance and is a dreamer, with all of different kinds of dream. You feel that in his approach to problems and people.

Gioel: Force of the Nature. Gioel cannot be described in one word. She breaks open the words, she needs more space, she is boundless. Giole’s energy fills everywhere, including our Sauvé  house.

Najme: Earnest. *Oh, it is so immodest to talk about myself. I directly quote from Brett: “An essentially Canadian adjective for a non-Canadian who embodies that so essentially. Najme is so much of what she does. Disciplined, positive thinking, empathetic, contributory, concerned about doing a right thing, and ...”. (I turned red by this time)

Guy: Nobel. A man who was not born into royalty, a man despite whatever the beginning, is standing here, respectful, precisely because of what he represents. Guy is the best of humanity, trying being over circumstances, and gives us a new window of the world we are living in.

Gerald: Enthusiasm. Have you ever seen anyone tweeter feeds and facebook posts that so encapsulate enthusiasm for whatever he is doing. You would love to tell Gerald something new and hear and see the response OOOH. But after a while you might find yourself doing it and imitate that Ugandan posture.

 The night did not finish here. Now it was our turn to come with adjective for Brett and Anita. It was an interesting but hard game. It was then when we realized that Anita and Brett should have spent ages to come with those adjectives.

We wanted to describe Brett as a philosopher, a resource of knowledge, an alive body that all kinds of knowledge flow in an out. Erudite was an adjective for Brett, but it is not enough to fully describe his manner, support, deep friendship, and creativity. He still owes us a Ping-Pong tournament though!

Anita for us is a person with big ideas and thought. She never stops. When this professionalism is combined with generosity, empathy, and openness, a unique character like Anita can be imagined. Magnanimous was an adjective that we gave to AniTa. A positive thinker with a great network of people that we saw just one glimpse of that in her 40^th birthday. 

We were all full of appreciation for the opportunity of being together, and enjoying the last moments of our companionship. We finished this fabulous night by sharing a sentence each:

·         It will not be as bad as you think it is

·         Do not wait for the second chance. Take the first chance.

·         Smile and be happy in your life.

·         Hope for the best but be prepared for the worse.

·         Be kind to yourself. Complement yourself. Admire yourself. Love yourself.

·         Do not stay in the past, it makes you depressed. Do not be in the future, it makes you anxious. Be mindful and present, it gives you inner peace.

·         Remember to acknowledge what you do not know. Embrace humility.

·         Read the little prince.

·         Be who you are, you need to be who you are.

·         Be intimate. Search intimacy in others and find the beautiful parts of others.

·         Do not be over analytical about things.

·         Have curiosity and constant hunger to know people and things, BUT LET OTHER PEOPLE TO KNOW YOU too, open up yourself.

·         “US” is always stronger than you and me. Be “us” J

·         Try and fail. But do not fail to try.

·         Give more than you take.

·         Be committed to healing.

·         Believe in your strength and power and amazing human spiritual being.

·         Be empathic.

·         Do not be entitled to what you have. Entitle to what you aim at.

·         Sit and have meal with the people you like every day, and sit on the table as long as you can.

·         Embrace who you are, so the world would open up to you.

·         Open up yourself to all the things that world offers you.

·         Acknowledge your choices which are present in every second of your life, meet all new people