Departures from the Norm

As I peer down over the moving baggage carousel and the Regina folks gazing upward as they wait for their loved ones to descend the stairs, I desperately want to be arriving, not departing.

I feel like I’m in transition at the moment—instead of the usual feelings of excitement as an impending journey unfolds, I now have feelings of fatigue for yet another time of packing, carrying, sitting, not sleeping, flying, bussing, waiting, waiting, waiting.


So, the title (Departures from the Norm) doesn’t really describe the fact that I’m travelling. Oh no, that would be forgetting that I’ve been away more days this year than I’ve been home. Departures from the Norm refers to how I have decided to approach this trip. First, a little background.


Approximately 21 months ago, Tony Brown (MMU) invited me to be one of only 50 participants in an international conference on Mathematics Education and Contemporary Theory (MECT), to be held in Manchester in July 2011. 21 months ago, the exact details of my sabbatical were unknown—certainly, the plan did not yet include trips to New Zealand, Peru, and Africa. As I began to live my six month sabbatical, it became quite clear to me that I probably wouldn’t have any energy remaining for the one trip that was written in stone, so to speak, oh so long ago. So, here I am, trying to muster (muster, that’s a really good word, isn’t it?) enthusiasm—let’s just call it tolerance—for this last sabbatical trip.


So, as I sip on a Guiness in the Maple Leaf Lounge of Toronto airport, passing the five hours before my seven hour flight to Dublin, I settle on a new mantra. (By the way, settling on a new mantra ‘under the influence’ is, as I discovered last night, much less risky than painting one’s toenails while under such an influence).


Anyway, my new (departure-from-the-norm) mantra goes like this:

It’s a good day,
for being in the present.

Until we meet in Manchester, ciao.