Ahhhhhh…what a weekend! I don’t even know where to start except at the beginning of it: flying into Ottawa on Thursday night and spending three amazing days with a certain little man and his parents.
 
There were trips accompanying a sweet boy on a plastic tricycle to a nearby playground, hours shared in sand and on slides and, of course, storybooks and cuddles. He’s such a happy little boy and I’ll have to hold those sweet, sweaty, sandy memories in my heart for the next several months until we see and hold him once again in the fall, by which time we’ll hope to meet his new little sister.
 
Brooke is holding up well and may be one of the few Ontarians to be wishing away the summer. Bring on October! She and I had long talks that went well into the night (and even the early, early morning), we spent spa time together doing some pampering before she’s doing more Pampering, if you know what I mean, and I continue to count the reasons to be grateful to have her in our, Colin and Phil’s lives. As I said when I announced their great news a few weeks back, she’s proven herself to be a wonderful mother already and we’re so looking forward to seeing a newborn in her already-full arms. 
 
Although we FaceTimed with Grandad Banana every day, we sure did miss Rob. But with a mountain of firewood to split and an equally tall pile of chores to take care of, and with no paying events per se, it just didn’t make practical sense for him to fly with me on this visit. 
 
Today, as I subtly brush away tears during the AC flight’s taxi to the Ottawa runway, the plane will be taking me towards more family: I’ll land in Calgary and then transfer to a flight to Kelowna, where my dad and two of my sisters reside. Rob will be taking a ferry over from Vancouver Island and driving through the mountains to meet me at YLW. Tomorrow is Dad’s 86th birthday and I’m told we’ll have an early dinner and then hit up my niece’s school concert. 
 
In the meantime, both Rob and I have asked what the heck we are going to do about watching the Raptors game tonight! I think I land at about 11 pm Eastern Time and the game and series could well be pretty much over by then…so I don’t know how it’ll all work out. I’m so sorry not to be in a position to witness history tonight, if indeed the Raptors do pull off another big win, but I’ll sure be cheering along.
 
Maybe I can catch some of the game while waiting at the Calgary airport, but I think it’s only an hour-long layover. But poor Rob will be driving through mountains. Wouldn’t you know it? And just when we’d gotten such comfy seats on the bandwagon! 
 
Meantime, this tweet from @dayslikethese sums it all up perfectly. I may have a handful of years on this Toronto Star editor, but I couldn’t agree with her more. 
 

 
Have a great day, GO RAPTORS, and I’ll be back with you here tomorrow. (Oh, and for Lynne P. from Newfoundland who wrote and asked, and to whom I was unable to email in return because of an address problem, those banana sneakers Friday were from Winners.)