As many of you know, I spent the last three days in Montreal participating in a work-related course on Copyright. Montreal is the place where I spent the first 22 years of my life. The course was only a block away from the office building that housed my first job as an insurance policy typist in a typing pool. At that time I was 17, "wet behind the ears" but knowing everything there was to know about life - just like all teenagers do at that age! But really, I knew nothing, or nearly nothing at all and was full of fragility and low confidence.
Being so close to my past led me on a journey (or a long walk and drive) through the city to some of my old hang-out joints, old elementry and high schools, and the four places where I lived ... (two with family and two on my own). I walked and drove around Montreal like a native, yet looked at the city with new eyes, almost like a tourist appreciating many things like the architecture that I used to take for granted as being normal.
Since I left there I've added 24 years to my life and added 24 pounds to myself, I've travelled half way around the world, attained multiple university degrees, gained much more self-confidence and have made more than 24 new friends. I really have come a long way since I was 17 and knowing nothing!
24 years ago, I never thought I would take a course on copyright with a room full of bright lawyers, including some law professors. The course was amazing and my fellow classmates highly impressive. We learned a lot, but it made me realize that I still know next to nothing. In fact, the more I learn the more I realize this.
All in all, it was an enjoyable trip for the course content and also for the trip down memory alley. I guess I'll just have to accept that I'll never be a "know it all". But be thankful for all the good things that have come my way and even the trying times that have built my strength and made me who I am today, who may not no everything, but is happy with where she's gone.
Now, I wonder what the next 29 years will bring?