Monday Morning Musings
Posted on August 8, 2016 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet
The Dorval Dragon
Families.
You can’t live with them and you can’t live without them.
Families are very complicated entities as most of us are well aware. Especially big families. And let’s face it, many of us are baby boomers and grew up at a time when 6-10 children per family was quite common.
I returned home yesterday from a family reunion ( my mother’s side of the family ) in Montreal. I met some cousins I hadn’t seen in 40-50 years and a few I had never met. The weekend was pretty laid back and lots of time to reconnect, talk and eat… and eat some more! Tom and I tried to walk off the food walking 3-4 hours each day. It was also an excellent opportunity for my brother Don, the family historian, to add some new branches to the family tree. We danced, we sang and we laughed and there was the odd tear as we remembered family members who had died over the years.
A great family friend, Leo Purcell addressed the crowd and urged us to write down our family stories before they are lost forever. As loyal Week45 readers know, I have been doing this in a backhanded way for a number of years now. I read one of my stories from book #3 about a memorable trip to Montreal by train in the early 70’s. http://www.week45.com/the-habs-and-the-hab-nots/
Oh yes. I confessed to Betty that I have a crush on someone else (!) … my 99 year old Aunt Edith, a bright, warm, charming and engaging woman.
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So, I arrive at the airport to discover that my flight to Halifax has been delayed 2 hours, certainly not a big deal but you know how you feel at the end of a busy weekend on the road… you just want to get home. I checked the departures board and saw that there was a flight going to Halifax leaving in 20 minutes. ( the good news ) The lineup up for security was quite long. ( the bad news ) I thought I’d give it a hook. My biggest fear was that they might weigh me after the truly enormous megaton breakfast I had consumed an hour earlier. By the time I cleared security I had exactly five minutes to get to Gate 11 which was conveniently located somewhere near the border of Quebec and Ontario.
I did my best Usain Bolt impression and ran full tilt through a thick maze of bewildered travellers. The very last passengers had just been sent on their way as I breathlessly approached the ticket counter. The attendant was a bit overwhelmed and almost laughed at me when I asked about the possibility of getting a seat. “We are oversold.” Several of the Halifax bound customers on the later flight had the same idea. All of us turned heel to head back to hang out for several hours. But 4 of us decided to hang around. We weren’t officially on a standby list but I was fourth on the pecking list if an opening came up.
The flight attendants were nearly frantic as it was obvious that the cockpit was calling and wanting to close the doors. And then these magical words “ Paging the C. family of 4.” The plane was not full and they were trying to locate this family. It felt like “the faint hope clause”… for the 4 of us waiting patiently ( like a bull moose in rut ).
If you are a golfer you understand that you never outwardly wish your opponent miss a game winning putt on the 18th. hole. Inwardly you pray that your opponent, right at that moment ,gets a serious case of the yips and misses. We didn’t want this poor family to miss their flight but we were salivating at the prospect. Just then , our hearts sank as a foursome came bounding down the hallway. And just when all hope seemed lost, they veered sharply and headed for Gate 5. “ Remove this family from the passenger list.” I don’t think I have experienced as much drama ( or joy! ) since the birth of our first child!
Have a great week.
P.S. Thanks to the Cowans, the Gara’s, the O’Flaherty’s, the Mitchells , the MacDonalds and extended family and friends. It was a blast.
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