My very first blog! And what an excellent opportunity to introduce myself and share a story that happened just a few days ago. I am happily married with our 30th wedding anniversary coming in November. In 1988 we moved to Newmarket and have been here ever since. We have been blessed with a son and I believe it is safe to say we would fall into the oh so familiar demographic of “busy”. Both our jobs were in the Toronto Downtown core and for close to 30 years we have been road warriors, driving daily to our Toronto places of work.
I remember in 1975, my parents taking us to watch the OLGA Helicopter cap off the CN Tower and I was fortunate 
enough to have a birds eye view of the Skydome from the time the first shovel hit the ground to completion. I was in awe of Toronto and the world class technological marvels that were being constructed. Then a funny thing happened. That childlike wonder and appreciation seemed to disappear. The reality was we were super busy, wrapped up in our careers, our lives and our families. Ironically 23 years after watching in amazement OLGA work its magic on the CN Tower, I found myself employed in a building that was directly across from the CN Tower. Every day I would see it, but not really see it. Somewhere along the line I became de sensitized to the CN Tower and ultimately Toronto as a whole.
Last week a client had asked Silver Fox Concierge Ltd to pick up a Musician coming from New Orleans who was going to give his first ever performance in Toronto at a venue in Kensington Market. Prior to his performance we had some time to kill and decided to take a walk through the Kensington Market neighbourhood. To watch his utter joy, curiosity and appreciation of the neighbourhood was a wonderful experience. This musician was born in Brazil, moved to New Orleans and has travelled the world extensively. He commented that the streets of Kensington Market were beautiful and reminded him of the streets of Norway. Unfortunately he needed to get back for his performance so off we went.
Much later that night I was reflecting on the overall experience and felt a sense of embarrassment for losing sight of what is and always has been right in front of me. I made a commitment that I would reconnect with Toronto and all it’s wonderful, unique and diverse neighbourhoods. In fact, I think it would be a perfect place to spend our 30th wedding anniversary. Hmmm, I wonder if my wife will see it this way? Stay tuned.
Michael