Ode to Awesomeness

I like people.  
Especially really awesome people.  
People that stretch a little further than comfortable - maybe even risk putting a muscle out - to reach out and touch you.  
People that don't need to walk a whole mile or even a block in your shoes.  They get bad shoes and they get you.  

I know a lot of awesome people.  
Sometimes I don't find out how awesome until I give them a chance to be awesome.
Sometimes they don't know they're awesome until someone takes time to tell them they're awesome - a godsend - a gift - numero uno!

And I wonder to myself why I don't write about these people. These pay-it-forward kinda people.  These people that have shown their "awesome" - not like a flag in the wind - more like a secret note passed under a school desk.  

So I will - because they're AWESOME!

Today, on this harried weekend before my daughter gets home from somewhere out in Asia-ville, I will write about my most recent brush with awesome.  His name is Mike - Mike Kroeker.

Mike poses, convincingly, as a travel agent.  But to me he's an Expedition Engineer Extraordinaire.  

When these wild-eyed Canadians decided to trek to the other end of the planet it was Mike who stepped in and mapped out an itinerary of serendipitous proportions.  

When this detail-dissecting eccentric (that'd be me) panicked at the 11th hour it was Mike who patiently calmed her nerves and said "It's all taken care of.  Go have fun!"

It was Mike who emailed us across the world - "Your flight times have changed" or "I've pre-printed your boarding passes to simplify your life." 

And now, when our daughter in Laos needs to get to Cambodia without a dime to her name cause her wallet was stolen - once again it was Mike.  The travel agencies are closed cause its Saturday, all the Western Unions are closed for 3 days in Laos, and our daughter's about to miss her flight home.  When I call him on his cell, panicked that my little girl will be stuck in Asia-ville forever eating bugs for lunch and wild flowers for dessert, his calm voice reassures me.

With a single click of his mouse he's navigated the convoluted world of airlines and flight times to get her back on track in the shortest time.  All this on his off time.

Thanks Mike - and until I can think of a better word, you're AWESOME!  

So, if you're travelling, or about to travel, or dream of travel, go and see Mike Kroeker with Bonaventure Travel on Academy Road.  He won't be the one donning cape and mask.  Oh no, he's too modest for that. He works under cover -  the Clark Kent of travel.  

But I know, and now you know, he's pretty awesome.