Last weekend, our younger boy had another spring hockey tournament, his last one for the season.  I had to work Friday so the boys went over to Vancouver on the ferry in the morning.  One of the other moms suggested we fly over together on the floatplane in the early evening.  It was an incredible day to fly with our beautiful sunny weather.  I do really live in paradise.  We flew out of Maple Bay, over the Gulf Islands and landed in Vancouver harbour.

Now I must tell you about the one other time I have been in a floatplane.

It was my sister’s 5^th birthday and I was 3.5 years old.  As it was a small plane, my mom and two sisters went up first.  My dad and I had to wait at the dock for I think 45 minutes to an hour (not actually sure if that is right).  When it was our turn to go up, all I remember is sitting in the seat and taking off.  Then, as legend has it, I promptly fell asleep and slept through what I imagine to be a beautiful flight over our home and south to Victoria and back.  I have never gotten over the disappointment of missing this entire event.  I also still fall asleep quite quickly when I am a passenger of any motorized vehicle, so my husband finds me to be a very boring companion on a road trip.

Back to when we landed in Vancouver on Friday – we arrived in front of the Vancouver convention centre and saw that there is an event being held there over these few days called ‘Women Deliver 2019.’  My flying companion / friend / fellow hockey mom had taken part in an activity the Friday morning already (yes, she had already flown that day as well) and told me of some of the women who would be attending this event, Melinda Gates being one of them.  On Monday, I looked up the event online to read about what is happening and who is there (I love this kind of stuff).  Then in the evening, my husband wanted to put on a Netflix show he had saved to watch together, the David Letterman series, ‘My Next Guest Needs No Introduction,’ and it was the Melinda Gates interview!  Which is funny timing. I really didn’t know anything about her to call myself a fan, but I can say having watched this that now I am.  She is very classy, intelligent and the quality of her morals came through as well, which I very much admire.  I am so glad to have watched this and learned about what she does (now I have to look for that book she has out).  I woke up this morning feeling like, what am I doing with my life? In a good way as in very much inspired, not in a moping way.  Reading the website of the Women Deliver event and the list of speakers really reminds me there are so many amazing people out there.  That perhaps (definitely) I have been acting too small all my life.  That people really can accomplish so much and have such impact.  I would feel very fortunate if I made a fraction of the impact Melinda Gates does.  One can dream, right?  😉

XO

Devon