When Justin Trudeau said, in his acceptance speech, “sunny
ways, my friends, sunny ways” he was apparently referencing Wilfrid Laurier’s
positive approach to solving the separate schools crisis in Manitoba in 1896.
Sadly, I mis-heard this and thought he was saying “funny ways” which rang
especially true in my own household. Funny ways, my friends, funny ways.
It’s funny how when the kids come home from University for
re-supply in one form or another you rarely see them. When I’m asleep they are
out. When I’m awake they are asleep. When they are home I am at work. We text.
They have boyfriends. The boyfriends are nice guys - they fill me in on what’s
going on. Carolyn texts their other friends to find out stuff.
It was also funny how the girls are a study in contrasts.
Maggie had a very fun and profitable summer working as a brand ambassador at
the Pan Am games and other marketing events (you hand stuff out and be a human
billboard in the service of some marketing objective). Hannah had a socially exciting post-high
school summer with a moderate amount of work. She had banked her cash from
working through the year and was enjoying that dividend.
The empty nest is just fine. The big adjustment is running
the dishwasher every second day. We learned. We went places like Burlington,
Vermont and California and St. Lucia to spend time with Duff and Nik. Absent
the wards, Carolyn found time keep her fitbit humming and ran a 10K with Maggie and did a triathlon
with Duff. The tri appears to be an
annual thing; other family members are considering joining. They do it on Toronto Island. The trek to the
starting line is at least as challenging as the actual race.
In February I had a
flashbulb moment at the Air Canada Centre. Carolyn and I were singing along
with Fleetwood Mac and 17,000 well-heeled baby boomers. We were belting it out when suddenly those
lyrics in Landslide seemed, well,
profound?
Well, I've been afraid
of changing/'Cause I've built my life around you/But time makes you bolder/Even
children get older/And I'm getting older too
But then they launched into “Go your own way” and I snapped
out of it.
The award for best actress in a leading dramatic role went
to Carolyn for her part in “The Halifax Express” (aka “Rocky”). She drove the
3600km round trip to bring Hannah and her stuff to school at King’s (with Julie
and her son). Best supporting actress went to Duff who flew out to drive the
return leg with her. When they returned
fully intact I had to enquire how she managed it so well, especially the
journey home when all the excitement of going to college had faded. “Duff and I
just chatted the whole way home. We didn’t even turn on the radio” As if they
were coming home from shoe shopping at Yorkdale. Bravo, bravo!
Both Carolyn and I started new gigs. She left the Heart and
Stroke Foundation to lead the marketing at a lumber distribution company called
Upper Canada Sierra (UCS). After 10 years of doing good works she decided, “not
for profit, not for me!”
In addition to my consulting I started teaching a marketing
course at Uof T in their school of continuing studies. My course covers wide-ranging marketing
interests like: Why are the ads still too loud? How does Hormel feel about the email term
“spam” and where are their trademark attorneys?
Do cowboys still use brands? What
are the names of the three people who click on banner ads? What is the
cleverest ad agency name ever? Actually it’s not, but it should be.