All week, I had a strong desire to tidy up my space, but never had the energy to put a lot of effort into getting it done. Such yearnings haven’t been that strong in ages, so when the weekend finally came I was a whole more excited than I really should have been. When I woke up, I got to work right away. By noon, the carpet was vacuumed and things were already looking better. In the middle of sorting my dirty laundry, the doorbell rang. I hadn’t combed my hair or brushed my teeth yet, so I was in rough shape to meet anyone. I figured though that it was just going to be some solicitor and that I’d easily brush them off. So, I went downstairs and answered the door. The person there was campaigning for the municipal elections. He handed me some pamphlets and encouraged me to vote for guy who’s the current incumbent. Outside, I could see a lot of activity as a team was seemingly trying to cover as much area in a short period of time.

After receiving the one pamphlet, I was handed another regarding a candidate for the region’s school trustee who was being endorsed by the incumbent. When he said the name, I had to get him to repeat it once more. You see, I recognized the name, not because I was following regional politics, but because I knew the candidate personally. I told the campaigner, “I know this guy…I used to go to school with him.” He replied, “oh really? He’s down the road right now.” So, he yelled over to the candidate and got him to come over. I stepped out and waved at him, and was kind of happy that he immediately recognized me.

Back in 2001, we were both still finishing the first year of the computer engineering program. It seemed that we both had a bit of trouble focusing on things and struggled for marks. He often gave me rides back into Toronto whenever I wanted to go home. After that term though, he decided that computer engineering wasn’t for him. He left Waterloo and took up computer science at the University of Toronto. I almost admire him for having the courage to know that a program wasn’t for him and changed tracks like he did.

As time passed, we’d lost most contact. Although at one point, he’d put me on an email list regarding a campaign he was running. I forgot what it was about, but I think he was running for a government position in a riding in downtown Toronto. I don’t think he won, but I’m sure he had gained a great deal of experience. To tell you the truth, I was a bit surprised to hear about someone from my class entering the arena of politics. It didn’t seem like an easy jump to make.

Well, time passed on, and he faded from memory. It’s almost freaky that our paths crossed in the manner that they did this past weekend. It’s a good example of meeting people from one’s past under completely unexpected circumstances. Interestingly, I’ve been doing a lot of that lately. I’m not sure whether this will all bring good luck as I’m revisiting some forgotten links in my social network. Though, more than anything, I’m just intrigued to find out what people have been doing with their lives after so long. It makes me wonder if there’s anyone out there wondering about me.