en route to istanbul
ma n pops arrived tuesday night. dad drove me to work on wednesday and they came for lunch at work and ate falafel burgers with me. the best falafel i have made yet!
for days the butterflies in my stomach had been growing into hurricane/whirlwind/tornado status. it's like the time sarah, kyle and i went on the cruise, x10. except that was a volcano that erupted the morning of departure, and involved missing sunglasses. this is more of a major storm brewing, bubbling under the surface. let that set the mood.
just before mom and dad came to pick me up from work, i knocked over the table with a mere whisper of my thigh. the remains of my pre-birthday birthday cake slidd off onto the floor and all the pens landed on top. while i was wrestling with the folding legs and heavy table, while trying not to strain my elbo, dad kept ringing from the parking lot. meh. i'm on vacay, i said to myself and leaned the table against the shelves and left.
mom and dad took me out to dinner for my birthday. we went to the blue canoe. it was a bit hairy looking for parking and a bit of my folding table incident rubbed off on my patience level. but i got over it quick. dad found a spot about a block away from the restaurant. he was breathing heavy, and increasing in heaviness of foot by the time we got to the front of the restaurant, but we stumbled in alright. a smiley man seated us on the patio, which was warmed by those happy heaters. i call them happy so that's what they are. the table looked over steveston harbour and each of our chairs had a lap blanket on the back.
i convinced dad to share the halibut ceveche with me. i also nudged him towards the crab sandwich. mom got fish n chips and i got the layered caesar salad with prawns. the prawns were so delish. my salad was layed out weiwd. like whole romaine heart leaves with slices of parm and crumbles of bacon and five or six prawns. the ceviche had canteloupe in it i think. before our food came we amused ourselves by swapping mom and dad's faces. it was totally hilar. dad looked kind of like himself but more cherub cheeked and a little uncle duncan-ish. mom and dad gave me some owl stuffties and a travel belt thingie. when were done the waiter asked if we wanted dessert or coffee something and dad said it was my birthday so our waiter said he would get me something. he came by with this huge piece of pie on a raspberry drizzle. he told us it was lemon meringue but it didn't look like any lemon meringue that i know about. the meringue was so high and it was light brown throughout, like maybe it was made with brown sugar. we all shared it and it was the best ever.
mom and i left dad sitting in front on a chair and picked up the car and then picked up dad.on the way back we stopped at the dollar store to pick up some white thread and to search for some shoe horns for dad who had been using my metal spatula to get his shoes on. dad did his typical car snooze while mom and i went in. shoe horn jackpot. mom got him two long metal ones (his favourite kind,) and the piece d'resistance--an extendable telescoping shoe horn.
back at my two couch place mom began the long and arduous task of mending my garments. heather phoned while she was and i mentioned it to her. "that's like sewing cobwebs together!"she said. too true, too true. i may or may not have a few originals still in the rotation so... i'm sure i should be sheepish about it,but i feel kinda accomplished.
meanwhile i began to organize and pack. i finished finally around 12. or 11:30. i put some new pics on mom's desktop slideshow and i got a father's blessing from dad. dad had spent most of the night snoozin and had a second wind for reading by that point. mom cajoled him to bed. i curled up on the flower couch and stared at my phone a good 3 minutes with fading eyes before remembering that i was going to text mom some phone numbers and addresses. i set my alarm for 3:45 am and went to sleep.
i woke up at 5:24 because dad was saying my name. it took a minute to register how late i had slept in. my flight left at 7 and i had meant to be at the airport at 5 at the latest! i jumped out of bed, threw my cpap cords into the suitcase, changed, and grabbed my toothbrush and laptop... dad started dressing, thinking he had to drive me, which i agreed to, until i remembered that my car had to go to the mechanic and that dad would have no way home and the bishop was picking them up at 7:55 to take them to the vgh appointment. i called davethebigboss who i saw then, had called me 2 times. he was supposed to drive me and is famous for being excessively early. his first words were "you're freakin me out!" i told dad it was ok and i took off for work, which thankfully is on the way to the airport, i was praying the whole time. i was also speeding.
dave was in the parking lot ready for me. he grabbed my bag and we took off for the airport. "i didn't even brush my teeth!" i exclaimed to him. he gave me a pack of gum and said i could keept it.
dave dropped me off at international and i had a few minutes of quiet panic looking for the right place to check my bags. but my first leg of the journey was to toronto so i made my way down to domestic. another lady was going that way too and she saw my cluelessness and helped me.
even when i was printing my boarding pass i had moments of complete blankness of mind. frozen not knowing what to do. foggy brain. panic. heart thuds. calm down. think. somehow i made it through, dropped off my bad which was not too heavy, praise be, and then i was left looking at my boarding pass--not able to read it. i could not find my gate. and when i finally did, i could not find gate c. i went one way, turned around went back in the opposite direction and that's where i saw the life size gate c sign which had been right in front of me all along. that's when i laughed to myself. travel-nutbar....
once at my gate, i could came down. they were loading the first class and i was the last zone to board.
i sat in 14k, window seat. there was a little older japanese lady already sitting in the middle seat. i stuffed my light backpack in the overhead compartment, and buckled in. i wasn't paying attention when the aisle seat guy sat down but he was quite large. the japanese lady asked the flight attendant if she could have another seat. harsh. but she did get moved because there was one empty. all the better for buddy and i.
i dozed the first hour. then i indulged in an orange juice and a water. then some more water. then more. i watched a sherlock holmes movie with gandalf in it. it was about old sherlock who is dealing with dementia, it seems. it was good. my nerves flared up at the end of the movie when i realized how close we were to toronto.. no reason. just excited, nervous, excited, and yeah.
once again my mind was not clear and sharp in toronto. it took me w whle--a good while to figure out my gate, and my boarding time. a good while. when i knew where i was i ordered some food--a panini at a place called feta. then i had only about an hour before loading and when i did load,i sat in 24k window seat, buckled in and waited. and waited. no one came to sit beside me which is great. what's not great is that the captain came on and said a pilot was missing and it would be an hour delay. and so here we are sitting and waiting for buddy to show. he should be here soon.
i can't keep awake. i am on the verge of sleep typing.
for days the butterflies in my stomach had been growing into hurricane/whirlwind/tornado status. it's like the time sarah, kyle and i went on the cruise, x10. except that was a volcano that erupted the morning of departure, and involved missing sunglasses. this is more of a major storm brewing, bubbling under the surface. let that set the mood.
just before mom and dad came to pick me up from work, i knocked over the table with a mere whisper of my thigh. the remains of my pre-birthday birthday cake slidd off onto the floor and all the pens landed on top. while i was wrestling with the folding legs and heavy table, while trying not to strain my elbo, dad kept ringing from the parking lot. meh. i'm on vacay, i said to myself and leaned the table against the shelves and left.
mom and dad took me out to dinner for my birthday. we went to the blue canoe. it was a bit hairy looking for parking and a bit of my folding table incident rubbed off on my patience level. but i got over it quick. dad found a spot about a block away from the restaurant. he was breathing heavy, and increasing in heaviness of foot by the time we got to the front of the restaurant, but we stumbled in alright. a smiley man seated us on the patio, which was warmed by those happy heaters. i call them happy so that's what they are. the table looked over steveston harbour and each of our chairs had a lap blanket on the back.
i convinced dad to share the halibut ceveche with me. i also nudged him towards the crab sandwich. mom got fish n chips and i got the layered caesar salad with prawns. the prawns were so delish. my salad was layed out weiwd. like whole romaine heart leaves with slices of parm and crumbles of bacon and five or six prawns. the ceviche had canteloupe in it i think. before our food came we amused ourselves by swapping mom and dad's faces. it was totally hilar. dad looked kind of like himself but more cherub cheeked and a little uncle duncan-ish. mom and dad gave me some owl stuffties and a travel belt thingie. when were done the waiter asked if we wanted dessert or coffee something and dad said it was my birthday so our waiter said he would get me something. he came by with this huge piece of pie on a raspberry drizzle. he told us it was lemon meringue but it didn't look like any lemon meringue that i know about. the meringue was so high and it was light brown throughout, like maybe it was made with brown sugar. we all shared it and it was the best ever.
mom and i left dad sitting in front on a chair and picked up the car and then picked up dad.on the way back we stopped at the dollar store to pick up some white thread and to search for some shoe horns for dad who had been using my metal spatula to get his shoes on. dad did his typical car snooze while mom and i went in. shoe horn jackpot. mom got him two long metal ones (his favourite kind,) and the piece d'resistance--an extendable telescoping shoe horn.
back at my two couch place mom began the long and arduous task of mending my garments. heather phoned while she was and i mentioned it to her. "that's like sewing cobwebs together!"she said. too true, too true. i may or may not have a few originals still in the rotation so... i'm sure i should be sheepish about it,but i feel kinda accomplished.
meanwhile i began to organize and pack. i finished finally around 12. or 11:30. i put some new pics on mom's desktop slideshow and i got a father's blessing from dad. dad had spent most of the night snoozin and had a second wind for reading by that point. mom cajoled him to bed. i curled up on the flower couch and stared at my phone a good 3 minutes with fading eyes before remembering that i was going to text mom some phone numbers and addresses. i set my alarm for 3:45 am and went to sleep.
i woke up at 5:24 because dad was saying my name. it took a minute to register how late i had slept in. my flight left at 7 and i had meant to be at the airport at 5 at the latest! i jumped out of bed, threw my cpap cords into the suitcase, changed, and grabbed my toothbrush and laptop... dad started dressing, thinking he had to drive me, which i agreed to, until i remembered that my car had to go to the mechanic and that dad would have no way home and the bishop was picking them up at 7:55 to take them to the vgh appointment. i called davethebigboss who i saw then, had called me 2 times. he was supposed to drive me and is famous for being excessively early. his first words were "you're freakin me out!" i told dad it was ok and i took off for work, which thankfully is on the way to the airport, i was praying the whole time. i was also speeding.
dave was in the parking lot ready for me. he grabbed my bag and we took off for the airport. "i didn't even brush my teeth!" i exclaimed to him. he gave me a pack of gum and said i could keept it.
dave dropped me off at international and i had a few minutes of quiet panic looking for the right place to check my bags. but my first leg of the journey was to toronto so i made my way down to domestic. another lady was going that way too and she saw my cluelessness and helped me.
even when i was printing my boarding pass i had moments of complete blankness of mind. frozen not knowing what to do. foggy brain. panic. heart thuds. calm down. think. somehow i made it through, dropped off my bad which was not too heavy, praise be, and then i was left looking at my boarding pass--not able to read it. i could not find my gate. and when i finally did, i could not find gate c. i went one way, turned around went back in the opposite direction and that's where i saw the life size gate c sign which had been right in front of me all along. that's when i laughed to myself. travel-nutbar....
once at my gate, i could came down. they were loading the first class and i was the last zone to board.
i sat in 14k, window seat. there was a little older japanese lady already sitting in the middle seat. i stuffed my light backpack in the overhead compartment, and buckled in. i wasn't paying attention when the aisle seat guy sat down but he was quite large. the japanese lady asked the flight attendant if she could have another seat. harsh. but she did get moved because there was one empty. all the better for buddy and i.
i dozed the first hour. then i indulged in an orange juice and a water. then some more water. then more. i watched a sherlock holmes movie with gandalf in it. it was about old sherlock who is dealing with dementia, it seems. it was good. my nerves flared up at the end of the movie when i realized how close we were to toronto.. no reason. just excited, nervous, excited, and yeah.
once again my mind was not clear and sharp in toronto. it took me w whle--a good while to figure out my gate, and my boarding time. a good while. when i knew where i was i ordered some food--a panini at a place called feta. then i had only about an hour before loading and when i did load,i sat in 24k window seat, buckled in and waited. and waited. no one came to sit beside me which is great. what's not great is that the captain came on and said a pilot was missing and it would be an hour delay. and so here we are sitting and waiting for buddy to show. he should be here soon.
i can't keep awake. i am on the verge of sleep typing.
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