Tom Anzai Changed the World
Tom Anzai Changed the World.
At first it seemed like a bold title for this post. However, as soon as I thought about it, I realized it was, quite simply, the truth and so it became my title.
Tom is a hard person to describe to somebody who has never met him because there is, quite literally, nobody else like him.
However, if I had to try to explain him, I would say, think of the most vital person you can imagine. Think of someone incredibly fit, and much more youthful than their years. Think of somebody who never does anything half-assed.
Now, at least you have the idea of Tom.
If you have begun to imagine that person I’ve described above, you’ll know why it came as a literal, physical shock when I read that Tom had died.
It’s not possible.
Why? Well, because Tom is the person who made my boys’ eyes go wide as they told me, “Tom can swim backwards!”
Not only could Tom swim backwards – many people will know he could swim in his jeans. And did. Long distances in the Ottawa River. With amazing humour too – “Jean Pantalon” he called himself. So funny.
I first got to know Tom in my role as a swimming mom – sitting on the pool deck watching my kids swim through Guppies and Whales. That’s when I first discovered the intensity of Tom’s personality wasn’t reserved for swimming. He was so curious. He always wanted to know what I was doing on my laptop. Writing a book? What kind of book? He told me someday he’d like to be published in the Globe and Mail. I remember thinking, “Why not?” Tom, I always felt, could do anything he decided to.
He didn’t mind arguing either. He told me – with confidence – swimming is the only sport you can do your whole life, at any age. “Except horseback riding,” I said. “Yes, that’s right. Swimming,” he would answer. Somehow it always came back to swimming. I should definitely have a swimmer in my next book, he said. I should also get a smaller laptop – mine was much too big to carry around.
If Tom was happy to give advice, he often looked for it, too. Later on, when my boys had stopped swimming, it was my turn to be coached by Tom. His emails to the Masters group would give details of upcoming swim practices and end with a question – “Can anybody recommend a good stove? We need to get a new one as part of our kitchen reno.” We once got onto the topic of how visiting their cottage late in the season became a bit less fun because the outhouse seat would get so, so cold, and for several sessions in a row Tom and I would discuss possibilities (some more practical than others) for insulating outhouse toilet seats.
I would never, ever, have taken up swimming at age 43 if it wasn’t for the Anzai family. And, when I say swimming, I mean doing butterfly, and swimming timed 1500s, and doing flip turns. Real swimming.
I did it because Tom told me I could do it. “Just come along and we’ll help, and you’ll figure it out.”
And that’s pretty much what happened. I was mostly coached by Tom’s daughters Emily, and Andrea, and his wife Marie, and if a person is a measure of those who love them, then Tom is truly one of the best people in the world, because it’s impossible to describe how lovely, and clever, and supportive, and smart, and amazing Emily, and Andrea, and Marie are.
I’m writing this because tomorrow I’ll go to Tom’s visitation … which is still hard to believe … and the family has asked for people to bring written memories of him.
So, now it’s written, and I’ll post it here, and take it to them, and I hope you will see that given I have this much to say about Tom, and given that he touched hundreds and hundreds of people through his lifetime, then he truly did change the world.
