Just Ask

In the 70s I was interested in photography. My parents let me make a darkroom out of the basement washroom.

I wanted to try taking pictures in various places.

On one occasion I approached a surgeon, friend of our neighbor, to see if I could photograph a surgery.

It happened! I observed and photographed a lumpectomy; removal of a bullet; and hernia repair.

This took place at Branson Hospital in North York.

I also learned I wasn’t cut out to be a surgeon, pardon the pun.

On another occasion I asked a traffic reporter pilot if I could join her in the helicopter for a morning traffic report. That was an amazing experience. It felt like taking a ride in a mix-master. That was with Diane Pepper.

Yet another time, while on Prince Edward Island, where I drove myself in a 68′ beetle, I asked a small plane pilot if he would take me up for a ride.

I asked at the Air Canada desk if there was a place I could find such a pilot to get up for free.

I was directed to this guy’s trailer home behind a small hanger at the far end of the field (about 1973). It was morning. I knocked on his door. I woke him up. He came to the door wrapped in a towel. I asked. We went.

It was a single engine Piper Cherokee.

The guy practiced some acrobatics. It was an intense experience. I held a barf bag, just in case.

All these experiences, just for the asking.

Just for the asking.

I long since realized that if I asked, the worse that would happen was that a person would say no. If so, then on to the next.

A friend once told me, you have to kiss a lot of toads, before you find a prince. I guess I applied that to gaining all sorts of opportunities.

Be brave. Ask.

Accept no. Ask another.

(Selfie. Camera on tripod. En route to Prince Edward Island. 1973)

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I am Gary Direnfeld and I am a social worker. Check out all my services and then call me if you need help with a personal issue, mental health concern, child behavior or relationship, divorce or separation issue or even help growing your practice. I am available in person and by video conferencing.

Gary Direnfeld, MSW, RSW

gary@yoursocialworker.com
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Gary Direnfeld is a social worker. Courts in Ontario, Canada, consider him an expert in social work, marital and family therapy, child development, parent-child relations and custody and access matters. Gary is the host of the TV reality show, Newlywed, Nearly Dead, former parenting columnist for the Hamilton Spectator and author of Marriage Rescue: Overcoming the ten deadly sins in failing relationships. Gary maintains a private practice in Georgina Ontario, providing a range of services for people in distress. He speaks at conferences and workshops throughout North America. He consults to mental health professionals as well as to mediators and collaborative law professionals about good practice as well as building their practice.