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When I was a kid, I had 3 dreams. One came true, two didn’t. First, the ones that didn’t, Olympic champion gymnast and Olympic champion track star. I could literally feel the excitement inside me as I imagined myself winning the gold for Canada. I could see the blinding flashes of a hundred cameras in my face all clamouring to get the perfect shot at the country’s latest hero.
That didn’t happen. Not for gymnastics, not for track. Gymnastics is an expensive sport and at some point in my training, my need for better coaches, better facilities, etc. outstripped my family’s ability to pay. That, and my mother refused to send her 11-year-old daughter off to a big city to live and train with strangers. As for track, once I got into high school, I began to lose interest as my social circle became more and more important to me.
Two dreams down, but all wasn’t lost. There was still the final one, the one that suited me so perfectly it couldn’t go wrong, becoming a lawyer. I still remember the first time someone suggested that I might be suited to such a profession. I was 12 and in grade 7. I was also a bit of an insufferable little intellectual and constantly arguing with teachers about perceived injustices or mistakes on their part. Miss a point when grading my paper, they’d see me at their desk, hand on hip, demanding an accurate accounting. Teacher…
