memory highway

Here I am. My return trip was delayed by several hours because my flight was cancelled and I had to fly home later than I planned.  That was okay as it gave us more time to talk.

I was visiting a dear friend from my Stratford days. I still think of her as a new friend though I have known her now for 48 years! Wow.  We actually overlapped in one place (we lived in duplicate houses 3 or was it 4 lots apart) for only five years but she came back to visit and her husband was one of my husband’s pallbearers. (Does that make us related?)   And I stick like Velcro.

 But those five years were packed and fraught, and we lived through a lot.  I mean, I lived through a lot and she was a wonderful. loyal, supportive friend – also fun to be with.  She still is.  She was my first present to myself in this milestone year of mine and what a wonderful present!  Not without its trauma: nostalgia is always accompanied by pain, I guess. But we managed to tell each other things and to recall events and people that affected us profoundly.  How incredibly precious it is to be open with another person.  Lacking a husband I don’t often have that luxury or comfort.  Of course, there were side effects, like more and deeper memories that kept me awake at night, but they were cleansing.  I wish you that experience.

I’m home now and on a countdown for my next big trip.  I’m walking pretty well. I have to keep my leg up when I can, but I also have to shop and cook for a few people before I leave, and plan and pack and tweak the screenplay for a second draft and

…. do my income tax.  :-( 

The tramlines are getting loaded.  

 

a friend is a gift I give myself

Remember that line? Well, tomorrow I am giving myself the first of a number of such gifts for my Milestone Birthday Year.  I’m flying to Sault Ste. Marie to visit a former neighbour from Stratford days.

I was going to have a big party to celebrate my Milestone and I realized that many of the people I most wanted to see were too old to travel or reluctant to come to Toronto in February. So I decided not to have the party but to make a point of going to see my friends in their own place.  Hence Sault Ste Marie. 

It hasn’t been that simple to arrange the trips, at least this first one, because of my messy injury and the time it has taken to heal – not yet whole.  I wasn’t certain until Friday that I would be able to go. As it is I have requested a wheelchair to help me get on the plane.  I’m looking forward to seeing my friend.

I haven’t decided yet whether I’ll take Little Mac (my very small laptop). I’m not going to take a bag, not even a wheelie, and I’m not sure my sleek backpack will accommodate a nightie and essentials as well as a laptop.  If you don’t’ hear from me till Wednesday you’ll know what I decided.

Anon, anon.