Thursday morning, Leah and Penny drove me to the airport so that I could catch a plane to Halifax. I had purchased a WestJet ticket on seat sale (lucky
and made plans to go see my dear friend Kerri and her new family, including new 'nieces', Megan, Marlee and six month old baby, Lilly.
However important - and worthwhile - the trip, make no bones about it, I don't enjoy travelling alone.
I am no a sophisticated traveller. I aspire to be like Kelley - stunning, confident, care-free - strolling through the airport with a book and a latte... jetting off to cool locations, meeting new people.
Sure, I might look swish in the airport, wrapped in my houndstooth shawl, reading a thick book and sipping my Green-Tea-Soy-Latte-with-No-Syrup...
but on the inside... I am more like a quivering bowl of green jell-o.
It was only a four and a half hour flight direct from Calgary to Halifax. One episode of Conan O'Brien, Ellen and The View and a little Much Music and I was there... landing on a rocky island surrounded by water. (It is culture shock for a Prairie girl
It was a rough arrival - but totally worth it as I rode the escalator down into arrivals and fell into my friend's arms.
She kept me busy. The first day we had lunch with a friend of hers from work, drove the Eastern Shore and went to Fisherman's Cove. Then we had dinner with her family, laughed and had a sing song with her girls. Then we saw Nights in Rodanthe with Richard Gere and Diane Lane (one thumb up, one thumb down).
Saturday I started the morning with a run and then we drove into Halifax, where we rode the Harbour Hopper, went sight seeing, shopped and ate dinner. We were supposed to go to a Martini bar on the harbour... but we were EXHAUSTED by four pm! So we got a movie and drove back to her place... a sure sign the two of us are getting older. Ten years ago, we would have danced the night away!
Sunday - we collected shells and rocks on Martinique Beach, had coffee with her folks and attended a phenomenal concert called DRUM! which was a musical/dance review of the four main styles of music of Eastern culture. Celtic, Mi'kmac, The Black Settlers and Acadian. The musicians and singers were exceptional. With the Eastern population now living West, I am certain it could sell out in Ft. Mac, Edmonton, Calgary and Red Deer alone.
Yes - it is the airplane - just a little. I've read, statistically speaking, you could fly 24 hours a day for four hundred years before you'd crash. What is it about flying that is so terrible? It's the stories, the movies, the media coverage, the past. It's being confined in a narrow seat next to someone who does not know me or love me and hurtling into the atmosphere at 516 mph in a tube of metal...
I was fine. I did it. And I did it better than the last time I went (3 years ago) when it rained for five days and nights and I cried just about as many tears...
You see it is about more than just the airplane... it is being a half a world away from everyone that I adore. I don't feel the need to travel alone and see the world... my whole world lives within one hour in any given direction.
My husband, who tells me to relax and have a marvelous time, holds down the fort - I have no reason to worry. And I don't worry about the kids. But as I stand in the sand and listen to the roar of the waves and feel the spray of the Atlantic on my nose... it's him I want to share the moment with.
And on Saturday, my heart aches when I think about kissing the forehead of my sweaty eight year old.
And on Sunday, in the old Irish pub, when I should be gobbling my beer battered fish and chips and thanking my friend for the wonderful hospitality, I am distracted by the table of 20 celebrating a family birthday. Cameras flashing and everybody kissing and hugging. The thought of my own family, my sisters, my mom, my nephews and nieces... makes me long for Home.
Some may think that for the few days I am on 'vacation' I should luxuriate in the adult 'me' time, put away my thoughts of family and rip it up with my girlfirend! Some may think that I worry too much, (which, admittedly, I do) that I should relax, sleep in, enjoy the flight, cherish the brief independence - soon enough I'll be home to my busy life. And I did a little bit of all of that!
But the moment that the plane began it's descent over Alberta and the Prairie land patchwork became visible... the moment that I strode off the plane and into the arms of the man I love the most in this whole world... the moment that my girls' rushed to me from school with kisses and hugs for mommy...
I felt like I could really fly.