FOLLOWING YOUR DREAM

Dreams can be exciting and it is good for everyone to consider the opportunities as they arise. In a previous blog I told about my father’s dream of having one of his descendants become a medical doctor. My parents had lost a son at the age of four due to a scarlet fever epidemic that swept the southern Alberta area in the mid l930s. My oldest brother with my father had our 1929 truck started for the drive to Medicine Hat for medical help. Just then their little boy said “Please Mommy, take my arms and lay them away, they hurt so much.” My oldest brother came in and announced their truck was warmed up and they were ready to leave. “Harold is quiet now, perhaps he is on the mend,” our mother said. But he had just passed away. Their third son was running a high fever and so the family went to the city with him as well. Al was kept in isolation, recovered and later served five years in World War II.

Our son graduated from the University of Victoria with a degree in science and math, was named top student and at the graduation ceremony also received the gold medal as top student for that year. He was interested in the research angle more than in a medical degree. He told us he did not require the money we had saved for any further studies, and returned it to us. He had been able to pay his own way through university with scholarships and summer jobs. These funds could be given to another descendant who could carry out this dream. After registering in pre-med for the first year, a student might know for sure this was the right decision and be able to continue on. If not the opportunity would be passed along to another student. It has been so difficult to find enough medical doctors to supply the urgent needs in Canada and we have been accused of urging trained doctors from Africa and other countries of enticing them to move to Canada.