Time Travellers

Celebrating a lifelong friendship

They first met as three-year-olds and, today, as senior citizens, these two lifelong friends and their spouses, still travel and spend time together.

The concept of time travel in science fiction was popularized by H.G. Wells in his 1895 novel, The Time Machine.

I like to think of time travel as a journey people take together through the various stages of life, from childhood to senior citizen. This more personal type of time travel describes my relationship with my lifelong friend, George Blagden of Calgary.

George and I have known each other since we were about three years old. We spent our early childhood years living across the street from each other in the east end of Montreal. We attended the same elementary school from kindergarten to Grade 4, and then George moved away. We met up again in high school from Grades 8 through 11, and during that time period, I introduced George to his future wife, Linda.

George and Linda have been married for more than 40 years and they are godparents to our youngest daughter, Tanis. After my husband Roger and I moved to Ontario and George and Linda relocated to Calgary, we still kept in regular contact, often visiting each other.

Since we all retired, we have taken three vacations together— to Hawaii, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. George once met Tanis and me in Las Vegas to take a helicopter ride together over the Grand Canyon; he also travelled with Roger and me to the United Arab Emirates, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

There is an African proverb that reads: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

I know George and I are both enjoying our time travel in the most important journey of all— life. Thanks for the memories, George! n