Posted on July 28, 2016 under Faces in the Crowd with 3 comments

 

“Laughter in the workplace is one of the most important things in business.”

Meet Mike Sullivan.

Mike’s heart is never far from the water. One of three boys born and raised in Canso, it is a place he treasures for its small town values. His father was a fisherman but didn’t want his sons to follow in his footsteps. That didn’t keep Mike from swimming and boating, passions that he maintains to this day. When he and his wife eventually settled in Antigonish the thing he missed most was the smell of the salt air.

He took a year off after high school and worked at the local Co-op. Despite the friendly staff, he knew that this wouldn’t be his life’s work. His father was also a fine carpenter, so Mike headed off to NSCC to acquire this trade. The next few years found him trying to discover his niche as he took a variety of courses, but none of them grabbed his attention.

He married a local girl and school teacher, Maureen Lumsden. With the decline in the fishery they realized that there wasn’t much of a future for them and their first child in Canso. One day he responded to an ad from Midas looking for a mechanic at their Antigonish outlet. Even though he didn’t have the required papers, he had an aptitude for the job and offered to do a day’s work for nothing so that the boss could check him out. That was on Valentine’s Day, 2000. Three years later he became manager of the business and eventually wrote his exam and got the required documents to become a certified mechanic.

He had finally found his niche.

Despite the success he was having in business, he was dealing with some personal issues which had the capacity to derail his plans. He made some life-changing decisions that set him on a path to happiness and fulfillment.

A few years later he had an opportunity to buy the business. He decided to put his own name on the shingle and the rest is history. Sullivan’s Auto Centre is now a thriving enterprise on the corner of Main and Court Streets.

He and the family took their first big trip together a few years ago to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. It was an amazing experience and Mike picked up some valuable tips on client service, noticing that the staff at this tourist destination was always friendly and smiling.

And what are the keys to his success? “Give everyone the same good service. You need to know how to read people. Never look in someone’s pockets. I treat people fairly. And it helps to be just a little bit crazy!”

Mike is the picture of contentment. “I have a wonderful life. I have a great wife and family, a loyal (and sometimes irreverent!) staff and great customers.”

Whenever he can, he heads down Route 16 to his beloved hometown to relax at his camper and spend a bit of time on his boat.  Inhaling the scent of the briny ocean keeps him grounded and ready for whatever lies ahead.

 

Posted on July 26, 2016 under Storytelling with no comments yet

Taking care of business… right till the end

 

“If I ever needed anything done with a hammer and a saw, Donna arrived with her own tools … and a smile.”

Donna Lydon was a doer.

A woman of incredible energy, Donna gave everything thing she had to her family, her students, the many charities she supported and to the community at large. She did these things with distinction; demonstrating an unbelievable level of commitment and competence second to none. She was a perfectionist in the best sense of the word.

She could be mischievous as well. As a youngster, she would play cards with the family after doing the supper dishes, a few decades of the rosary and homework. Seeing that some of her elders used Gaelic to possibly gain advantage, she and a few siblings taught themselves some French in an attempt to get the upper hand at the card table … an early sign of her playfulness and joie de vivre. Later in life, she and Jack frequently travelled to the States to spend time with friends. According to a dear friend and shopping companion, “When you played cards with Donna, there was no messing up on the game. The rules were the rules!”

She was revered by her peers at school. “I know very few people as swift to offer help, so quick to volunteer, and to follow through patiently and consistently to the end in whatever was needed.  In our work together, no one could have had a finer, more generous, more reliable, committed and supportive colleague,” remembers a lifelong friend.

Her students thought she was pretty special too, especially those who may have stepped outside the margins. “I look back on her as an inspiration, inside an institution where I otherwise felt I didn’t belong. I remember her encouraging words, her gentle voice, her lovely humour, her giant heart and her always smiling face.”

According to one of her principals, and a brother to boot (!), she was as much a guidance counsellor as she was a business teacher. “In all of her years of teaching, she never sent a student to the office.” Donna was a superior listener and was blessed with common sense and empathy.

She loaned her significant time and talents to a number of local charities. She was one of those who worked tirelessly to get the CARE Van for Antigonish. Despite her track record for raising money, when it came to the CARE van Donna took her marching orders from Peggy “A.B.”  I’ll make the calls,” said Peggy. “You won’t be doing that anymore.” Donna was also a stalwart member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

Family always came first. When her mother ended up in the nursing home, she faithfully stopped by every night to administer “Donna’s Tuck-in Service.”  The sun rose and set on her grandson, Phoenix, and her love for her husband Jack and her daughter Kim was deep and unconditional.

Donna loved the birds that frequented the back deck at the house. One day, near the end of her long siege with cancer, Donna was resting.  Jack found a birdfeeder and created a small paradise out back for her, adding the laughter of running water and the beauty of shrubs and flowers. When she woke from her sleep, she was astonished to see the transformation in front of her. Love flowed easily between Donna and Jack, her life’s partner.

The grief and sense of loss is palpable. We echo the sentiments of a friend and colleague who said, “I can only say that I am much diminished; bereft by her loss. She was, in the real sense of the word, an extraordinary lady.”

“Favorite people, favorite places, favorite memories of the past,

These are the joys of a lifetime; these are the things that last.”

Henry van Dyke

 

 

Posted on July 25, 2016 under Monday Morning Musings with 3 comments

Summer… through the eyes of a child

 

Grandchildren.

I don’t know about you but any shred of normalcy and discipline go flying out the window in summer, especially if you are entertaining your grandchildren. How come I can walk by the waffle cone ice cream stand ten times a day and not even flinch when we don’t have company but once the small ones arrive, I become a whimpering ice cream addict.

We are in the final week of hosting our 8 year old granddaughter and I have had the pleasure to spend many hours with her and our other two grandchildren.  With all the terrible news that hits us in the face incessantly in the media, it is a joy to shut out these troubles  for short periods of time and remember what it is like to be a child and see the world through their eyes.

I can’t possibly remember everything we did this summer but these stick out: going to the theatre to watch the movie “Finding Dory “ , complete with 3-D glasses and a bag of buttered popcorn; fishing in the brook behind our apartment building; numerous trips to Columbus Field to the water park; hiking through Arisaig Provincial park; mid morning coffee/snack breaks at the Tall and Small; walking through fields of clover; digging tunnels in the sand at Bayfield; chicken fingers and fries – I have discovered that a child can live on these two items almost exclusively!; walking through the “secret path” between our apartment building and Church Street; making arts and crafts; watching our granddaughter make new friends from a war torn country. ( My personal highlight was watching a young Syrian girl playing joyfully on the playground equipment behind the school ); playing with cousins; sitting around the fire pit at the Victorian Inn singing songs ( Puff The Magic Dragon is her favorite ) and roasting marshmallows; strawberries… no explanation required!; hanging out at the Art Fair; the Highland Games Parade; playing board games; walking down Main Street about a thousand times… occasionally with no purpose.

And ice cream. Lots and lots of ice cream!

I know I am missing dozens of other things but just being present and in the moment with small children is a joy and a blessing…. and exhausting. It is a trite expression but it is so real. People raise children when they’re young for a very good reason. It takes enormous energy to keep up with them.

This summer will pass too quickly as they always do. The memories will keep us going when the cold winter winds come a calling.

Have a great week.