Total nostalgia

Sounds like Canada is doing an "all-Quebec City" episode today.

And nothing has made me this nostalgic for la belle province than the past 16 minutes.

Among other elements of the show... is a convo with a former colleague of mine, Catou MacKinnon.

Ever since I've started my "reporter" career (which I DO distinguish from my "shows/current affairs" career... aka what I was doing in Quebec before I got this job up north) I've kind of kept her in my head as the kind of reporter I want to be.

She was friendly, but took her job seriously.

She worked long hours when she needed to ... but made sure to take that time off when she could be spared.

She was driven, dedicated, but level-headed.

And always up for gelato lol!

I think the coolest thing about Catou was that she always made sure to include me. She threw /organized my "welcome to Quebec" AND my "Bon Voyage" pub nites. I was only there 5 months, but she totally made me feel welcome.

But what really got me ... and something I try to think about whenever I have to do a little extra time, or go to a conference or a public meeting that maybe I'm not really keen on going to... is how she dealt with the first fatality from the Valcartier crew. I was working in QC when the first batch went to Afghanistan... and that was intense enough. But then we had those deaths... three I think...I remember hearing she dropped everything when she went out and just covered it. Middle of the night. No one had to tell her to go. She just knew it had to be done, and she did it. It would have been the longest day ever for her, but she didn't complain.

She had to talk to the wives, mothers, fathers... friends of these men. And she did it with flawless grace. Sympathetic without pity. Somehow kept her own composure.

I can only dream I'd be able to pull something like that off with the same dignity.

So kudos, Catou. Kudos.