Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Wise Old Sage


Yeah that title got your attention didn't it??

Funny thing is those words came from A, not me! This week we went to have coffee with a teacher A had several years ago at his old school. We try to catch up with this guy several times a year for a coffee and catch up on life. That year was one of profound impacts on both parties. He made a profound impact on A by making A responsible for dealing with social issues like friendships, recognising that friendships take work and that he had to meet people half way. A, too made a profound impact on this teacher, and he still talks regularly about him to people he meets.

After spending a couple of hours together with him, A and I were travelling home and talking in the car. We talked about how his teacher joked and teased him about an upcoming peer mentoring program he is doing (that is another blog coming). At one point during coffee, his teacher said something along the lines of "hmm you thought you would get away with the social stuff with me didn't you, that I would just fix it, but you were wrong" to which A responded "yep that was a turning poing"

hellllooooo my 16 year old comes out with "yep that was a turning point" - how the heck did I raise a child that is so self-aware that he can see a "turning point" in his life when he is now 16 and he was about 12 at the time of the "turning point"!!! That alone messes with my head.

Then on the way home he talked about that some more and then went on to talk about leadership and mentoring. He told me that he seems to have "become the "go-to guy, the wise old sage kind of" with his school friends and peers. It seems his friends or their girlfriends seek his counsel at times of difficulty or relationship issues. I suggested perhaps it is because he is very logical and rational in his thought processes so they know he will give them good advice.



I have said since he was very young that he is what I call "an old soul, someone who has been here before" - he has always had a maturity beyond his years and a way of looking at the world that is quite unique and beyond his level of life experience - WISE OLD SAGE indeed : - )

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Good friends

Yesterday was an awesome today, I caught up with a friend I have seen in like 9 or so years!

She and I were at university together, not in the same courses but we knew some of the same people and became friends.

After leaving Uni we caught up a few times and I don't know life tended to get in the way. We both had kids, her marriage broke up and well she was flat out dealing with life as a working single mother. Each year we dutifully sent each other Christmas cards with a letter of what the year had brought for each of us, and each year saying "it has been too long we must catch up".

Well this year we actually did do that! She and her partner, her 2 kids and his 1 child, all came over for lunch. It was great. All the kids got on really well, yep love the Wii : - ) Her partner is a really lovely guy and we all got on really well together. We sat and talked and talked and talked, all afternoon about all kind of stuff - it was really nice.

I guess that is the thing about good friends, you can not see each in other in ages and when you do, it is like you have never been apart, you just pick up where you left off before.

Except this time we have made a tentative date for later in the year to do it again, otherwise before we know it, another 10 years will have gone by!