An aside from my story.
One major lesson for me in Nanaimo came from a happiness guru whose head didn’t much surpass my knee.
His name is Callum Brown. I had never met him before a police order forced me back to Canada. He is my nephew.Â
I have never seen a happier child – ever. I fell in love with Callum in about three minutes.
And then he fell too!
And smashed his face on his grandma’s patio so hard that it even hurt the onlookers. But he got up, ignored the pain, and continued playing – tiny splayed fingers distributing “tickle tickle tickles” to all those around to see their laughter. At two and a half years old, he enjoys the passing moments far more than most.
Callum could do this, partly, because he is no stranger to pain and discomfort.
Callum has had neuroblastoma – a rare form of cancer – since birth.
He has become something of a poster child – a personality who graces the fund-raising literature of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
 He’s the kid with the red balloon on that site.
The little thing has a blessed fascination for little things – picking curiously at the peeling tape around hockey sticks, imitating the minute expressions on the faces of strangers – anything new.
The hug of his little hands as he sees me and yells “Unka Agam Unka Agam” conveys a selfless joy that permeates every single one of his interactions. He has learned to charm nurses with a wink.  He still winks with both eyes - his good one and his blind one. Callum feeds off of the joy of others, then throws it right back at ya’, ten-fold.
He feels compelled to put my mom’s roses in his mouth, his tiny fingers in my ear. He has learned to moderate his larynx into a repellent, blackboard-grating scream if he wants somebody to cease and desist. He shuns knives and forks and instead eats the warm mashed potatoes and butter with his hands – and his cheeks and chin and forehead.
Sensory curiosity is one of the things he’s got going on. His is a vivid liveliness.
Me and My Nephews
(This is Part 4 of a Six-Part Series. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6)
Callum is a magnet for people’s love and smiles and hugs. You cannot be elsewhere when he is around, as he keeps you then and there, in his sweet presence. I learnt to “shoot” and play dead when he shot me, which made him laugh and laugh. I learnt to respect his solitude when he wants to be left alone. I learnt to admire his candor when he plays with his brother Zach. You have absolutely no choice BUT to love and respect him.