In 1972 when I was 18, my sister, Brenda, left our family city of Montreal with her husband and baby daughter and moved down the road to Toronto.  And that was the last time it was easy for all of our family to get together, in one place, ever again.  Since then, Brenda moved again to Winnipeg, then Vancouver, where she has remained with her three daughters and now their children.  My other sister, Linda, moved first to Ottawa, then made several other moves and is now in California.  I moved to Toronto.  Although I have seen both of my sisters fairly frequently on and off over the years, the last time the three of us were together was in 1993, 22 years ago.  That’s about to change…

In a couple of weeks, Linda will celebrate a milestone birthday and, with most of our family in Vancouver, including her son (my nephew) and his young family, there’s going to be a party there and I am going!  Linda, Brenda, and I will have a week together after so many years.  I’m getting excited.

It’s travel day and, with good-bye kisses and hugs given and received, I’m waiting patiently for my flight to board.  Won’t be long now.

I have a fascination with flying that falls somewhere between terror and awe.  And excitement, as it always involves traveling somewhere.  I always choose a window seat, if possible, and can stare at whatever is under me for hours, providing the weather and light cooperate.  I think this stems from rail travel at an early age where, as a family, we would make our annual trek from Montreal to Toronto, then on to Peterborough.  Although Mom always had surprises to keep us occupied, watching the world pass by outside the window was intriguing.  I love car drives and motorcycle rides, too, for the same reason.  You never know what you might see around the next corner.

My flight lifted off at 6:45 pm so, at this time of year, dusk is already moving in.  But not before I could easily see the Marilyn Towers in Mississauga and the suburbs quickly give way to the patchwork of the countryside.  And, with the help of the aircraft’s GPS, we have passed over the most southerly body of water belonging to Lake Huron and are now crossing Lake Michigan.  There is just enough light in the sky for me to know it’s there.  Of course, we are heading west and the horizon is on fire with varying shades of brilliant golds and oranges wedged between sapphire blue and dark nothingness, with the black silhouette of the aircraft wing slicing across it at a 45 degree angle.

 

It took close to three hours for that spectacular sunset to finally deepen in colours, and shrink, before settling below the horizon but, if I strain to see forward (instead of beside me), I can see us trying to keep up with it as we approach the foothills of the Rockies.

 

 

 

 

Ah, the Rockies.  I sure hope the skies are clear for my return home (during the day) because there’s nothing to see now except the flashing lights from the wing and the occasional cluster of lights on the ground.

And it’s over…
I can’t believe that I’m sitting in an aircraft, waiting for my departure to home.  That eight days just flew by!  Linda, Brenda, and I were able to spend Thanksgiving dinner together, as well as Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday afternoon, Friday afternoon, Saturday night, and last night.  We ate together, drank together, reminisced together, laughed together, celebrated birthdays together, and planned future vacations together.  Oh, and we shopped together for the first time ever, if you can believe that!  Somehow, that never happened when we were younger and still in the same city.

Fun-loving Linda had some t-shirts made for us that drew a lot of attention at the seniors’ spa day in a local community centre and as we moved about the city that day.  Aren’t we adorable?

There were several opportunities for most of the larger family to gather while I was visiting – Thanksgiving dinner with Linda and all of Brenda’s gang, an afternoon and dinner at Stephanie’s with her little family, Linda’s birthday party dinner with all of her family and some of Brenda’s, and last night’s dinner with some of Brenda’s, as well as Linda and her grand kids.  I have to say, when you’re used to having an only child in your adult home, and no other family around you, it is a bit overwhelming to have so many people and so much noise and activity going on around you.  But fun, too.  Sure wish there were more opportunities to get together.

We lucked in with the weather, which is always a gamble in Vancouver.  It rained on my first day, then the sun came out for most of the remaining week.  It was also mild enough to go out with just a sweater (or two), so we did a bit of walking and driving site-seeing.

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We woke up to grey skies this morning, and drizzle.  Unfortunately, my flight over the mountains was disappointing as there were clouds below me and as far into the east as I could see.  Besides, I was sitting directly over a very wide wing, which was pretty much all I could see anyway.  Oh well, at least it was a smooth flight.

Lying in bed at 5:30 this morning, Brenda asked me what I had learned while there this time, which I thought was an odd question and one she had never asked before.  After some discussion and quite a bit of laughter, here’s what we figured out (in no particular order):
*If I ever have a large enough bedroom, I’ll invest in a king bed (two twins together with separate bedding) as I slept so well
*If I can get motivated, I’ll invest the time to cook up a storm and have components of meals ready to go in my freezer
*I’ll do some research at home to see if I can find similar senior activities through our community centres
*I have to figure out how to get together with both my sisters, separate and together, more frequently

It was a gift to be with both of my sisters this past week.  I’m a little sad but only because I can’t share my life with them as much as I’d like to.  Guess we’ll have to settle, and be thankful for, the time we can spend together.

I love my sisters.