And here we at Tuesday – so I must be in another city. And I am.
 
Today I’ve arrived in rainy Halifax, glad to have brought an umbrella, but even happier to be staying at the hotel where tonight’s Canadian Real Estate Association event is taking place. I brought a good book and plan to spend the day with it, until it’s time to put on the lashes again tonight. What a whirlwind these past two-plus weeks have been! Good thing I like hotels, huh?
 
Although heading to Markham for the huge Celebration of Hope on Sunday was one of the highlights of my year, leaving Ottawa squeezed my heart like a sponge; this visit has been just that sweet. Laughter and stories and calls of “Silly Grandad!” a book about veggies with wedgies and so much more.
 
I worry about having overloading my phone with too many photos and videos while I was there. Here he is after a nap wearing some jammies I’d found (on sale!) at Indigo. He’s looking out at the snow. 
 

 
I’ll have more in coming days. I can tell you that he’s handsome and sensitive, tall and smart and has a terrific sense of humour. I gave his mom a dish scrubber that resembles a girl, so we started calling her Colin’s girlfriend. He named her Monique and I started to do voices for her. I won’t lie, her catchphrase is “Be Best!” and he’s caught on to that. Hmmm…wonder who I made her sound like….
 

 
He sings almost all of the words to “What a Wonderful World” and bursts into song – that song – at random times all day. It’s like he’s reminding us to stay happy all of the time. And we’re grateful.
 
We read for hours (the only TV he likes is Wheel of Fortune) and I can’t decide if the best time is greeting him in the morning and hearing, “It’s nice to see you!” or going to bed and climbing in beside him to talk about his day and take him up to a cloud to tell me what he sees. But the funniest thing happened last Thursday night. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
 
We cuddled up together as I tried to hold on to the smell of his sleepy sweetness. As his sound machine played, the room lit dimly by a Paw Patrol light, he told me how many suns he could see (32) and we shared other little sweet nothings. And then, in the quietest voice, he said to me something I almost heard. What was that? Because I thought he said, “Gramabana please don’t leave….”
 
“What, honey? You don’t want me to leave?”
 
“No,” he whispered, “Please leave.”
 
I had to hold in my laughter. “You want me to leave?” I asked.
 
“Yes,” he whispered. “I want my polar bear.” (It was on the other side of me.)
 
I told him, “Sure,” climbed out of his little wooden bed and tucked him in. We whispered our good-nights and I closed his door. 
 
Creeping into the room next door, where was Rob reclined on the bed, I said, “I don’t know how to process everything that just happened.” My heart was full to bursting with love for this little boy who was just so honest and so sweet and who has our hearts so firmly in his beautiful hands. 
 
We’ll chat with him again this weekend via computer and hold tight to our milky memories of this wonderful visit. We’ll be forever grateful to Lauren for leaving us with this little person, and to Phil and Brooke for gently guiding him through this life with so much love and careful direction. And we’ll be counting the weeks until the end of February: book publication date and a visit to Ottawa on the publicity tour. (Note to Mother Nature: BE NICE!) 
 
Tomorrow: a beautiful children’s book that is sure to add colour to your November day, and maybe a special little person’s Christmas. Be well.