MEMORY DEPARTING INTO THE UNKNOWN CALGARY 1977

This section is a little harder to define than the others. I was trying to find a place where I could add observations, feelings at the time of an event, sights, sounds, smells and concerns. The first one I can truthfully remember, very vividly, was standing in the Airport in Calgary, AB in late December 1977, waiting to embark into the unknown. I had feelings of apprehension, sadness, worry, self doubt, excitement, and self pity all churning around inside me. I wanted to cry out “MOMMY” as I felt a strong need to be protected. By all appearances I was a fully grown man prepared to go forth and confront the world. Inside I was a quivering little boy who wanted to hide under a bed until all this was over.

I was about to leave all of my known world behind and travel to Peru in South America. I had accepted a job in Peru with a Canadian company and had reached my date of departure. It all seemed surreal. The moment came, I took a deep breath, looked around me and passed thru the boarding gate. I sat myself in a seat, put my head back, ordered a beer and said to myself “you’ve done it this time, nothing will ever again be as you knew it before“. The rest is history.