When I was in high school I started watching F1 racing for some reason and my favorite team at the time was McLaren. In 1990 they won the championship with Senna but I was just a casual fan then. I would watch it on occasion. In 1997 Adrian Newey one of the best car designers in the world started working for McLaren and I started watching the races religiously. At the end of high school and in University I started playing recreational soccer in Sudbury with my friends. I was not a very good soccer player, but I was extremely fast and could outrun most of the people in the city. I ran track and did decent enough there that playing a sport I was faster than most. I sucked at soccer though and the only thing I had going for me was that I was fast. Old Italian men would hang out at the field all of the time watching the soccer as they had friends that played in the men’s league. One of them was the father of close friends of mine who obviously cheered for Ferrari because he was Italian. At the time McLaren and Ferrari had a good rivalry and depending on who won in any given week we would get to bug the other person about it. I think it made watching the races a bit more enjoyable as most of my friends were not into waking up in the middle of the night to watch a race across the world. Mel thought I was crazy for getting up or staying up till 2am to watch a race in Australia, or waking up at 6am to watch a race. It is something I enjoyed, but when McLaren were really bad a couple of years ago it was difficult to do to get up so early to watch the team get crushed. They have won the Constructors championship and are 1 & 2 in the Driver’s. So they won best team and now they are competing for best driver with their two drivers in the top 2 places. I have always loved their vehicles and I have an agreement with Mel that when I make $5million per year I can buy one. But we will just keep it in a glass box because upkeep is insane.
Most of my friends and family know that I am McLaren fan and my in-laws were in Vegas this week and walked by the McLaren store. They decided to buy me something. The cast die cars were in excess of $500US. I would have been happy with a sticker, but they purchased me a shirt at an inflated price as it is an official shirt. I love the shirt and had looked to buy a sweater before but could not justify the price. I appreciate the fact that my father in law saw the store and said that they had to go in and that they bought me something. When I saw the bag I did not even care what was inside the bag. The bag itself would have been enough of a gift for me, but these are the kind of people Mel’s parents are. Whenever they have an opportunity that can bring joy to someone that they love they will always try and share it. I think that is also something that makes Mel and I work out well. When we were dating and she lived in Toronto, she took an incredibly far subway ride and bus rides to get to a remote store to buy me a slot car set. I never had one as a kid, but there was one that was incredibly amazing and it happened to have the McLaren F1 cars. The detail of the cars is amazing and the box it came in was huge. She managed to carry this on the bus and subway for hours to obtain it for me. Mel went out of her way to do this for me because she knew that I would appreciate it. I have not set it up in awhile because it takes up a lot of space but we use to set it up at the university in empty classrooms all of the time. When she went to the store to buy it she owner of the store told her that most of his clients were older people reliving their childhood as the cost of the sets and cars were quite pricey.
I tend to buy things randomly for Mel as well. If I see a jacket or clothing that I think she would like then I will buy it for her. Given the choice of spending money on myself or in her I would choose her over me in a heartbeat. A lot of my favorite gifts from people are small personal things that hold sentimental value. I kept a lot of the cards and things people sent me during my first round of cancer. I still have scrap books Mel made for me when we first started dating. I appreciate the kind words that people send me even though it sometimes takes me a while to reply back to people. When I look back on what everyone has done it makes a lot of this easier as I have surrounded myself with so many positive people.
I have wanted my kids to watch The Princess Bride for a while as it is one of my favorite movies. It has some iconic lines in it and I thought that the kids would enjoy it. Mel thinks I watch it too much but what does she know. My kids loved it and have noticed some of the references in other things now. I am glad that I am and to share these experiences with them. One day we will share with them how serious my illness was both times and have a chat with them about it, but for now they just see it as a minor illness that Dad had to go through a couple of times where he was weak. I think that what they have seen though is how we have a strong network of support people that have stepped in to help us out. I think they will understand why it is important to make sure you cultivate strong relationships with people so that you have someone to lean on when you need help. And when they need help the expectation is you help them without wanting anything in return. It is something that our families have done on both sides and hopefully it is a trait that we have instilled in our kids.
Q