Lucky Me Part One

Just for the record...if you ever catch me complaining about my family...somebody stop me! I have always felt very lucky but especially now, after what they pulled off to celebrate Mother's Day and my upcoming 60th birthday.

The plan had been to go to Toronto for Mother's Day weekend, to celebrate Norah's first Mother's Day with her, Sean and prince Avery. In addition, Sean and Brendan were running in the Sporting Life 10K on Sunday morning. The proceeds of that race were going to help support Camp Oochigeas‎, where Norah works. We would drive down on Friday night and return Sunday afternoon. Then, out of the blue, a few days before we were to leave, Pat told me that we would not be returning to Ottawa until Thursday. We were going somewhere else for a few days. Nothing like this has ever happened. We always plan everything together so I was mystified for sure. He would not divulge any details. The only information I could glean from him was that I should pack one dressy outfit and maybe a bathing suit and a pair of shorts, in case the weather got warmer.

It was a strange feeling, to have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the following week totally blank. I am a planner, an organizer, a compulsive list maker. I have daily lists, short term lists and long term lists. I have lists of house jobs, family jobs and writing jobs. I am such a bossy wife that I sometimes make lists for Pat as well as myself. Anyhow, it was strange to let go of those days, to cancel my previous commitments and just try to relax about the whole thing. Strange and at the same time, kind of liberating.

Okay so I did cheat a bit. Pat is not a great folder and so I, the bossy wife, decided to re-pack his suitcase, to refold his clothes. First of all, it was surprising to find that he was using a full sized suitcase and secondly, it had nothing but shorts and t shirts inside.  Where were we going? In the back of my head I thought I could go check the drawer where we kept the passports but I never got around to doing that. I did go back to my own suitcase and throw in a second pair of shorts. It was unusual, to say the least, to pack for a trip to an unknown destination. I was guessing that we were perhaps going to Stratford or perhaps Niagara on the Lake. Maybe the play season was starting and we were heading to a hotel with a pool and we'd see a play or two?

We set off for Toronto with no job lists...an empty slate!