Gabriela M.

Gabi inspires me with her zest for knowledge. She moved to Canada with her husband and son. She was a journalist in Romania before she moved to Canada, and like any newcomer, she had to make a career change. It is very hard to leave behind a successful career, social status, family, and friends to start a new life in another country, with the hope of a better future. The challenges of new beginnings in Canada more than twenty years ago, did not stop Gabi from achieving success or making new friends from different cultures.

Our friendship has had an interesting journey. When we met for the first time, we realized how many things we had in common, so we could literally talk for hours and hours. Since then, we have shared many wonderful moments over the years. Every time I was visiting Gabi and her wonderful family, I felt at HOME. Being a single mom at that time, and away from family, having true friends meant A LOT.

Gabi, Viorel and Vlad

A couple of years into our friendship, there was a miscommunication between us, and I took it personally, more than I should have. We had not seen each other for many years, even though Gabi was trying to reach out, but I was the stubborn one. That was not typical me. Even though, I missed our conversations, I did not reach out or even responded to Gabi when she was trying to connect. One day, after many years, we ran into each other, and we picked up where we left off. I apologized for my stubbornness.

The moral of this story is not to allow a small thing to become bigger than it should, to address it right away and let it go. It is not worth it to hold onto a problem for so long. I have missed so many wonderful years of our friendship.

We all make mistakes, and we need to learn from them.

You can imagine our first lunch together after many years!!!

Here is one of our conversations for this blog:

One of Gabi’s talents is her thirst for knowledge, which makes her very open to learning new things with dedication.

A few years ago, she taught herself how to paint, and now, she could easily have a successful exhibition of her art work. I always admire people who are not afraid to explore, get out of their comfort zone and change their routine. Here are some samples of her art.