Today I am officially 40.
A lot happened since the 15th of November 1969. I still remember when I was around 10 when my mum told me a story that happened on that day and it is how I got my name. A bet between my grandma (father’s side) and her cousin, that ended up throwing the dices where my grandma had the higher score and named me after her dad, Krikor.
Another story I also remember, my dad told me that the day I was born, my grandfather left the hospital and went to the post office to send the US President a telegraph congratulating him on the landing of the Apollo 12 mission on the moon and of course that was something huge for humanity.
I was born and raised in Jounieh, which was and still is for me, after visiting more than 43 countries, the most beautiful Mediterranean city.
I was lucky and unlucky enough during those 40 years. Unlucky for witnessing the Lebanese civil war from 1975 till 1990 and being part of it, luckily I was positively involved, where I served as a volunteer at the Lebanese Red Cross from 1987 till 1997 as a First Aider, and unluckily I am still witnessing all the political and economical problems this country is still going thru but I have faith that we will be a great nation once again. During my youth years I left Lebanon for some periods and came back because with all the challenging situations we had here, I believed that I can make it.
I also luckily witnessed lots of good things also, in Lebanon and abroad, I lived when Michael Jackson was singing, when Lady Di got married and divorced, when Ayrton Senna was the fastest man in his F1 car, when Brazil won the football world cup 5 times and I’ve also seen the World Trade Center scrambling down and the US army invading Afghanistan & Iraq.
But the most admired part is the technology that changed and is still changing my life, when we went from black and white to color television then to plasma with HD, from my Kodak instamatic 126mm to digital cameras, from floppy disc to CD, DVD then blu ray disc, from my walkman to the iPod, from my Atari to the PlayStation and Wii, from my Casio PB-100 to my ZX Spectrum to the 286, 386, 486 and Pentium, from desktops to notebooks then to netbooks, from analog phones to cell phones and now smart phones, from dial-up internet to ADSL and super fast connections (not in Lebanon although), from writing letters to have friends from around the world to the social media sites, and the list is long.
Then I got married, and took my life to another level, thanks to my wonderful wife who went with me thru all the good and bad days we had, yes I went thru lots of bad days and felt so low, but I had faith in myself and was able to stand up once again and looked forward and learned from the free falls I had.
Then Sarah arrived into our life, and the day she born, it was one of the most beautiful days of my life, but one thing was missing to make it perfect, it was my dad’s presence, whom I wish was here to share with us this wonderful human being, that brought more light into my and my wife’s life. But as a Christian believer, I am sure that he was watching from above where he is resting.
I am a proud father of a little devil, yes that is my daughter, I am so happy she is here, when every morning she wakes up with a smile on her face, when she is crying or laughing, when she is jumping all over and making the most annoying noises in the world, but that makes her happy which means it makes us also happy, my wife and I.
I am so happy when after 40 years, my little daughter comes back from school and tells me she want to recycle the papers she is using because we have to be nice to the trees and to mother earth.
Yes our planet changed a lot since 40 years and I will do my best to leave it in a better way for my kid and later on to her kids. I am trying to go green wherever and whenever possible.
And I met lots of people during my last 40 years, some of them marked my life and some of them I wish I never met, some people liked me and some others hated me. Some are still my friend, some I lost for a reason or another, at the end I am human and I am not perfect, therefore I would like to apologize if I ever hurt any of you out there, it was not meant at all.
I am not sure if I will be living another 40 years, but whatever is left for me from this life, I want it to be different in a positive way, I will try to make them better than the last 40, for my family, for my friends, for the people I know and to whomever will cross my path after today.
I would like to end this blog post with a big appreciation to my partner and guiding light since the day I was born, God. Thank you for everything.
