All of these wonderful friends

Old friendships documented in my old sketchbook

In my old sketchbook, “The Drawing Book,” I recorded my adventures back in the 1990s. Back then, I’d been hired as a flight attendant by Air Canada, and I’d moved to Calgary, a city where I didn’t feel at home (even though I’d grown up there). I’ve been writing about that lonely transition time in early posts like this one. But this week, when I look through the pages of the old drawing book, I see signs of hope! I wrote about how I was finding time to reconnect with old friends, and even make new friends - as shown on the page below.

I think I was still overwhelmed with how fast things were changing in my life, though. I was glad to be making new friends, because old friends and family members were growing up and moving away…

It’s funny to reflect on that previous page, all these years later. It’s still true that I don’t want anyone to disturb my sleep early in the morning. But I respect the speed limit now. And I’m kind of glad that I saw a Rush concert (at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, sometime around 1996) - feels like something on a list of true Canadian things to do.

Because I was always flying around for my work, I still often found myself in Toronto, where I’d lived before moving back to Calgary. So I was able to stay connected with my Toronto friends, too. Here’s a Toronto page, featuring my Bob Dylan friend reading something about Dylan’s album “John Wesley Harding.” I guess I had Bob Dylan on my mind, since the quote farther down on the page (“In the hour of my deepest need…”) is a Dylan quote (from “Every Grain of Sand”).

Thank goodness I had those wonderful friends - and thank goodness I still have them today, because I need them just as much! Thanks to my friends near and far, and thanks to the friends I haven’t even met, who are reading these stories from my old drawing book. You have a friend in me, too!