I’ll Be Back

Yesterday, we wound up a week long trip to Southern Ontario. The main reason that we went out was to help Louise’s Sister and brother-in-law celebrate their 50^th wedding anniversary. I was tempted to wait until the 100^th anniversary because that is really an incredible achievement that not too many couples reach. Louise pointed out the flaw in my thinking and I can’t believe I missed it myself. When they reach the 100^th, we will both be retired and there is a good chance that we will be vacationing somewhere and unable to get back for it. My bad.

 

The last day of a trip is usually the worst day for several reasons. Firstly, you have to repack your things and if you are anything like me, those things don’t seem to fit as well as they did going and sometimes you have a few extra things to put into the suitcase. Second, there are the things that need doing which you have let slide until the last day. For me the jobs that Maegan had wanted help with were what I had put off. We had to hang a shelf, clean her bike chain, put new silicon around her tub and sharpen her knives. Not too onerous and thankfully the jobs went pretty smoothly. The absolute worst part of the last day for me is the waiting. You wait around the apartment after you are packed and it is still too early to head to the airport. You wait at the airport for security and then at the gate until you board the plane. Then there is the time of the flight which is in effect waiting to land.

 

I said the absolute worst earlier, but that’s not true. For me, the absolute worst is saying goodbye to Maegan, knowing that it will be months before we meet again. I wish I were able to be around to help her whenever she needed help, but that would drive her crazy, and two crazy kids is enough.

During our trip, we had good visits with our eastern family and equally good visits with friends. I think it is important to reinforce the ties to family and friends who live far away every now and then. This is something I haven’t done often enough throughout the years, but in spite of my lack, we still have family and friends who wish to see us. We managed to squeeze in a trip to Bobcaygeon Ontario where “Bigleys”, the best shoe store in the world is located. Maegan, Sharon and Louise found and bought some of those shoes/boots. I have to admit that it is an impressive store, but I suspect the men’s section is put there just to give us guys something to look at while the ladies are slipping their feet into tiny slices of leather heaven.

 

Whenever I travel, I find myself wondering if I could live in a place such as this. Toronto and area is packed with wonderful places to see and things to do. Of course I could live here, I have, but I’m not sure I am ready to give up living in Alberta. There is still a lot that I have yet to do here, and there are far fewer people doing it than there are in the Greater Toronto Area. You never know where life will drop you, but for now I am quite content to stay where I am. It’s nice to know that there are people some where else that can not only tolerate my presence, but they actually enjoy my company as much as I enjoy theirs.

I’ll be back…