

Impossible until it’s done
It was Saturday morning and again a departure was looming. This time I was to fly to London for discussions with counterparts at EBRD. I was agitated, somewhat anxious the way I always am before I travel. Shaving cream, check. Eye drops, check. Noise cancelling headphones, charged. Don’t forget the Advil, I always get a headache when I fly. The trick, take the Ibuprofen before you board and again at the end of the flight, experience is the mother of all rookie mistakes. Agita

Understanding Disappointment
This week Stephen Hawking died. I met him once, and as I approached like so many others, I stepped back after seeing how frail and broken he really was. What wasn’t broken was his mind, which was obvious. This brilliant man once said “When one's expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have”. I guess this is what you get when you live a life with the kind of disabilities he had to endure. When I learned of Hawking’s passing and I remembered