I like new things. I like change.

We recently moved to Airdrie and I find the entire change exhilarating and something that gets me out of bed every morning. Everything changed for the Kopes: our work, our home, our schools, our grocery stores, and I loved every minute of it!

I’m a dreamer. My wife Erin is the handler. Dreamers need handlers..

A handler is someone who takes care of details and makes sure all the T’s are crossed and I’s are dotted. Without handlers in a company, the wrong widget gets shipped to the wrong address for the wrong price, if it gets shipped at all.

A handler at home gets the right kids to the right school and makes sure there’s milk in the fridge and everyone makes it to the right birthday party.

Sadly, the only way I remember something is if a handler (or my phone) reminds me. It’s not like I’m lazy, I have energy a Jack Russell Terrier would envy, I just don’t use it for remembering details. I have to be very disciplined to be organized but I don’t get a special kick out of checking off boxes of things to do. Some people do and you know who you are..

I will fully engage with you and remember your birthday… IF my wife reminds me. She is the most loving and warm person I know and makes life worth living for so many, including our girls.

Erin is safe and I take risks, the trouble is we disagree about how to do a lot of things. The personality combination is not a terrible one and can be found in most marriages because the strengths of each tend to balance the other’s weaknesses, if you let them.

I’ve always valued both types of people, the risk takers and the handlers. Sometimes, handlers are so busy doing everything really really well that they don’t stop to think if they should be doing it at all anymore? A good manager tries to work all the bugs out of a system but aren’t generally the best at fixing things if the system is the problem.

Dreamers are so busy dreaming that the dreams often don’t come true. One has to do more than wish you could fly to the moon, you need to build a rocket that can take you there. If handlers wouldn’t come along, maybe the dreamer would be off to the next dream before this one is finished? Somebody has to stay and do what was promised…

“But where will we buy groceries??” … is just one more question I answer with “We’ll figure it out, isn’t this fun?”… until the next morning when we don’t have milk for cereal and I have to improvise and come up with a fun story for the girls about why toast is amazing!

On the flip side sometimes I bring a positivity that defies the odds of things stacked up against us. It is certainly a gift to view every challenge as an opportunity and be energized by it! A good handler’s first thoughts are “How on earth can “part A fit into subsection C?” and “Oh no! We’ll have to write more policy!” (which they secretly enjoy). A good dreamer’s first thought is “But this could change the game forever!!”

We come from a small town where nothing ever seemed to happen. Our whole family loves it here but have had to adjust to larger schools and currently our four girls are in four different ones. It creates a handling nightmare but on the plus side, we get to meet fun new people everywhere!

Something new to us in Airdrie was getting caught in traffic. Everyone here seems to think it’s growing too fast and it’s some sort of a problem.

(…but just to annoy the handlers…)

Me? I LOVE getting stuck in traffic! At least something is happening:)