Run, River Run

Posted on May 24, 2014 under Storytelling with one comment

The West River behind Columbus Field

 

 

“And we have just begun, watching the river run,

Listening and learning and yearning, to run river run …”

Watching the River Run – Loggins and Messina

I love to travel and discover new things.  Whenever I get the opportunity to go somewhere I’ve never been before, my heart starts to race just a little in anticipation.  And sometimes this doesn’t require going too far afield, as our own province has many wonders to behold.  There’s nothing wrong with being a tourist right in your own back yard.

So when I heard that my brother had won the use of a villa in France for a week, I waited patiently by the phone for an invitation.  Besides his immediate family, he had room for three more people, and as I surveyed the landscape I thought I had a pretty good chance at being selected.  After all, my brother and I have run together, biked together and even golfed together over the years and we are both lifelong Habs fans.  I mean, how’s that for brotherly love?

Gradually I came to realize that I had not made the short list and that the trip would happen without me, my good humor and my story telling.  I let this sink in and periodically I would mention to him, in the lead up to the trip, that my invitation must have gotten lost in the mail.   The guilt trip did me absolutely no good and, early in May, 10 lucky guests flew across the pond.

Is there anything worse than looking at someone’s vacation pictures?  There certainly is.  When you thought that you would be in those pictures, it stings just a little watching others have “tons of fun”. While I chipped sleet off of the car windshield in the last icy grasp of winter (a.k.a. spring), they were feasting daily on fresh croissants, magnificent cheeses and fine red wine.  And telling me about it. One day I received a postcard from Provence with my invitation to join them in France.  I was given one day to respond.  The card was backdated to March 31^st.  I was to respond by April Fool’s Day.

On the weekend, over fresh cinnamon rolls and coffee, I heard more breathtaking accounts of their trip. I think my brother was feeling guilty when he piped up, suggesting a river cruise two years hence.  “Start saving your money” he quipped.

I volunteered to organize the trip.

He might be surprised when I send him the following itinerary:

“Transport your canoe out to St. Joseph’s Lake and get dropped off at 6:00 a.m. on June 25,^, 2016.  We will launch the canoes into the West River … not to be mistaken for the Danube.  Fine dining will include peanut butter and jam sandwiches and cold beer.  Because it is late June, we might catch some sea trout right around the time the strawberry plants are blossoming.  Your vessel comes complete with a pool. Step out of the canoe any time and have a dip in the river.  We will disembark ten or so hours later behind Columbus Field in downtown Antigonish.  We will walk across the field and have a piping hot dinner at the Prissy Pig.  And, instead of visiting some decrepit castle, we will meander back across Columbus Field to the playground.

We will each take a swing and stare at the clouds as they drift overhead.

I will patiently await his response.