With apologies for the Disney reference, "It's small, small world", and the old adage about HOW small really rings true, at least for me. My wife complains, in good humour, that we can't go anywhere without bumping into someone I know but, truth be told, it really only happens in Ontario, where I've spent most of my life, or at sporting events, where so many like-minded people congregate. As my memory fades little by little, it's harder to recall all of the stories, but these are a few that make me smile.
Many of you will know that my father, Dr Terry Porter, was the only orthopod in Barrie for the longest time. That means that he has treated or interacted with a huge number of people, so the chances of me encountering people who knew him are pretty darn high. Now, couple that with the fact that he was a standout athlete at East York CI, getting noticed by scouts for baseball and hockey, and then continued to excel at Queen's University, eventually honoured by being inducted in their Football Hall of Fame, and you likely don't need more than one or two degrees of separation.
One of those stories happened while I was coaching the Georgian College Men's Rugby team. We had a youngster who made the squad who it turned out had come to us via East York CI. Revealing this little tidbit prompted us to share a small conversation after practice where it came to light that he was the inaugural recipient of an award that was created in my father's name by some of the players from my father's playing days at ECI. What's that? Two degrees?
Another story that involves my father and mother centers around a vacation that they took when I was still in elementary school back in 1972. They decided it would be a pretty neat experience to visit Russia, and since it was 1972 and the Canada-Russia hockey series was happening, they decided to take in a game. After the game, they were walking through Lenin Square when from amidst the babble of Russian they heard a voice in English, "Hey Tort!" You should know that my father's nick name at Queen's was Tortoise even though, for the life of me, I can't remember why. The shouter was a friend from Queen's medical school who shared the same notion of a vacation in Russia. That's a small world!
Growing up in Barrie from Gr 3 to OAC, then teaching-coaching in Barrie fro 29.5 years, it stands to reason that I would encounter numerous people whom I shared a commonality with, but some of my own personal stories still make my eyebrows rise.
In a previous post, I shared that I fully recognize I have led a privileged life. Following my university graduation, as was the tradition in my family, graduation earned you a trip somewhere with the Dear Ol' Dad, and I chose the Cayman Islands. I know, I know, rough life, eh? Anyway, it was a pretty cool thing to be 22 and away with your dad, and we were enjoying all that the Cayman's had to offer. A couple of days into it, we were walking one of its amazing white beaches, enjoying the sunset and the lack of people. Far down the beach, I could see there was a small group walking our way. As we both continued, I guessed that the group was comprised of young ladies approximately my age, and there was a feeling brewing. NO, not that feeling, but more of a Deja Vu. Ultimately, the encounter happened and, wouldn't you know it, the group was 5 girls I had just graduated with from Queen's PHE. It turned out that one of the girls parents owned a place there and they were celebrating the same thing I was. After introducing my father, we shared a lovely evening swapping stories and giggling. It really is a very small world.
When I was in my first year at Queen's, I chose to live in residence. The guy next door to me on my floor turned out to be a standup guy that you want to hang around with and we spent many a night laughing, singing along with his guitar, and generally being young university types. His name was Homer and he was in BCom. After year one, we drifted apart, occasionally running into each other at campus events, but we lost that first year magic. Fast forward 30 years and I am teaching at Central, organizing the school's yearbook class, and in walks Homer's doppleganger. It turns out that Homer had graduated BCom, gone on to Law School and set up practice in Barrie, of all places. His doppleganger was his son Isaak. We ended up having a great visit on parent night, rehashing our nefarious first year adventures ... oh, and Isaak turned out to be a pretty cool kid! The Circle of Life in play once again.
I was in BC in 2013, at the University of British Columbia, supporting my son Keaton as he represented Ontario at the National Rugby Championships. The rugby world is a small place since rugby is a fringe sport, so running into a long lost friend would not be a small world story ... but this one is. Watching KP do his thing one game, I felt a tap on the shoulder and, turning around, I found John Tait, the Canadian Women's 7s Rugby head coach. John is a Barrie boy and we hadn't seen each other in a number of years. We were chatting, watching, and generally enjoying the visit when he lamented that Barrie Central hadn't sent him any talent lately. I quickly retorted with names like Megan Gibbs, Emily Belchos, and Claragh Pegg who had proven to be very successful, but he countered that they were 15-a-side players and useless to him as 7s coach. He changed the conversation stream and asked about quality athletes that had recently graduated. I told him that one of the most talented athletes I had ever coached was a basketball player named Megan Lukan who recently graduated from her NCAA career and, interestingly, she had been a good rugby player as well. Judging by his raised eyebrows, John was interested, so I immediately texted Megan and put her in touch with John. One thing led to another and Megan traded a round ball for an oblong one, became a significant piece of the National team puzzle, and won an Olympic Bronze medal in 2016. The Circle closes again.
SIDE NOTE: Megan's "little" sister Kaili was every bit the athlete and she also made the switch from basketball to rugby 7s, following in her sister's footsteps. She is a mainstay on the Canada 7s right now with hopes of playing in the postponed 2020 Olympics.
Speaking of the Lukan clan, I was blessed with coaching all three Lukan girls and was reacquainted with their mother Marg, who was a friend of a friend in high school when she went to Innisdale. Marg was raising the girls as a single parent and was a big part of the reason that they excelled. As I became closer to the family, I was introduced to the girl's father John, and as we grew what I thought was a new friendship, we realized that our paths had crossed previously, way back in university football days. John played for St Mary's, and in 1985, we faced each other in the national semifinals, a game I have tried to banish from my memory after SMU came from behind in the 4th quarter. We shared a good laugh, reminisced and marvelled at how crazy life is that we would come full circle.
I am sure that any of you reading this have your own stories ... if we ever get out of this Covid quarantine business, I'd love to share a bevy and a bonfire while you recount the details.
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