This post is quite personal to us and talks about a vulnerable chapter in our story that has been unfolding since 1996. It is about one father dealing with difficult times, moving forward, and choosing to come out on the other side of the journey stronger and having achieved something, rather than accepting to be enslaved by life’s circumstances.
In 1996 we were enduring much uncertainty coming at us from all directions. The crisis reached its climax when we had to deal with Bob having a potential malignant brain tumor. Through a whirl-wind series of events we ended up in Seattle, Washington later that year, where a doctor with questionable bedside manners told Bob “you do not have a brain tumor, you just have MS, get on with your life”.
Bob tells the story from here on when a few days later “I found myself reflecting on my own mortality while sitting in my parked car in our garage at home in St Albert. I had a moment where I thought I just can’t handle this. After a few moments of allowing those thoughts to manifest, the doctor’s words to get on with my life started to ring in my mind. So I went into the house and made a couple of phone calls and here we are 23 years later with a great team around us and a nice little business that gets to impact and influence financial services industry education in Canada. This was the start of Business Career College.
In late 1999, a cartoon appeared in the Toronto Sun. It was a simple picture of a character standing by a massive wooden ship, what looked like an ark, hammer and nails in hand with a caption that said: “If your ship has not yet come in, take a lesson from Noah and build your own”. Bob did just that for our family. It was not an easy road. And reflecting on that chapter of our story, Penny remembered a gentleman she met in about 2006: Bill Clennan, The Memory Man. Bill was inducted into the Canadian Speakers Hall of Fame in 2004 and died in 2010. As a motivational speaker, he shared his secrets with many of our clients. I share below his poem that we have framed and hung in the Edmonton office.
We have been lucky in our 2 sons and privileged to watch them grow into good men. Jason is a wonderful father to he and Lou’s three kids and 2 grandkids. Jordan and Lori live close to us and have gifted us with our granddog Cookie, who is one of our BCC mascots.
Happy Father’s Day to all fathers, fathers to be and aspiring fathers out there.
Bob & Penny Watt
