Sharon Higgins
CFL.ca
There are certain events in your life that you relive over and over again. I find they often occur at the very time of year when they first took place. One such event happened in our lives at this time of year.
It was Monday of the May long weekend, 1994. Tom and I had enjoyed spending the past few days in our yard preparing it for the upcoming summer months. Late on Monday afternoon a call came for Tom from Hugh Campbell, the General Manager of the Eskimos. I carried on with my outside business, as football calls at all times of day and night are a common practice and really not much to get excited about. But this time the call was of a different nature. It was one that was about to change the course of Tom’s career.
Tom recounted the call to me as I sat on the patio relishing in the sight of the neatly manicured yard. It was a job offer for the position of Assistant General Manager, starting immediately. I could see by the look in his eyes he was very intrigued by the call and the opportunity it might hold. I told him firmly I wasn’t moving to Edmonton so he could just give up the idea. After all, we were settled in Calgary, the kids were all happy and his coaching job was great. What more could we ask for? The Eskimos were intense rivals. I was a Calgary girl. Why would we even consider moving there? End of story.
Well not quite. By Friday Tom had made a trip to Edmonton and there had been numerous phone calls with them. Oh yes, and did I mention, many sleepless nights? We tried to keep everything on the QT so the kids wouldn’t be concerned. Our oldest daughter Holly, 10 at the time, sensed something was amiss. She didn’t speak to us directly about it but instead told her teacher. A call came from the school suggesting I come and pick her up. So there, on the playground I broke the news to her about the pending move and immediately took her shopping to lift both of our spirits. That night we told our other children we would be moving to Edmonton. Their responses? Shock. A bad dream. How could we move there? We hated the Eskimos. Not any more children! Can I please go back to watching TV now?
The series of events that took place in the next 6 weeks were like a tornado moving at break neck speed. The morning it was announced on the 8:00 AM sports we had a call 5 minutes later from a parent at school asking to buy our house. The same day Tom and I headed to Edmonton to start the house hunt. Thirty houses later we found a home and before we knew it Tom was in Edmonton at training camp and I was in Calgary organizing the move. So many things to do, so little time!
On July 1st we pulled into the driveway of our new home, 300 km’s north of Calgary. Tom was waiting for us and proudly handed me the remote control for the garage door. I knew when I looked at him he was extremely happy his family was now with him. All was well in our world; the Higgins’ Team was back together.
The transition of life in a new city and cheering for a new team wasn’t easy but little by little it all fell into place.
In the upcoming 11 football seasons we would spend with the Edmonton Eskimos I learned many valuable life lessons. One of the biggest ones was from Hugh Campbell himself. When you have an issue in your life that is possibly stressful and requires analyzing, you should never make a quick decision. He would suggest you “ sleep on in”. Things often would look different in the morning or at the very least the anxiety of the situation was lessened and you would often be able to think more rationally.
Remembering back to his call on that Monday afternoon, my feet and mind firmly planted on staying in Calgary and not willing to contemplate a move to Edmonton, I think to myself now… I should have “slept on it” and maybe it wouldn’t have seemed like such a bad idea in the morning.
After all, the sun did come up… just a little further north.
