Significant Moments

(image by Andy Frazer 2015)

As I look back on my life to this point, I realize that the tiniest happenstance can completely change the course of your life in an instant. You don’t realize it at the time, but these pivotal moments of meeting someone or running across a tidbit of information can reshape our whole lives.

Case in point: I was sitting in a café in Montreal in 1987 reading the local newspaper, the Montreal Mirror. It was a great little paper, much like the Georgia Straight in Vancouver, it listed al the cool arts and club offerings. I always read the back page for jobs and personals. There I saw this ad: High Demand for French Immersion teachers in BC. Come and take an interview and placement test at the Plaza hotel.

 I had just finished an honors degree in French literature, had just got back from a long trek around Europe, and was working as a cashier in a bulk foods warehouse. I felt at loose ends as to what to do next with my life. So, I thought, why not check this out? BC was home anyhow, and the training was at my old university close to my parents’ home.

When I arrived at the hotel, the man interviewing me was my old high school French teacher who had got me a job placement teaching English when I moved to Montreal. I couldn’t believe my luck. I didn’t feel like he gave me any preferential treatment because the questions he fired at me were quite tricky, but I guess I will never know.

A year later, after completing my teacher practicums, I went for the job intake interviews at the university. Guess who was on the panel? I got hired into my local school district because of him and now, after a thirty-year career, I can reflect on how important he was to my life. I told him as much in a card when he retired.

So, if I hadn’t opened that newspaper at that moment, my life could have taken a completely different trajectory. Do you have a moment like this when your life changed course? Please subscribe / leave a comment.