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April 25, 2003
Next on the list of stops was Club Price and we all went in this time. Dee-Dee had promised Brandan (and I) ice cream at IKEA but their machine was broken, so we bee-lined to Club Price's superior (according to Dee-Dee) ice cream stand and got a tall vanilla cone for me and chocolate for each of them. There was food purchased also, but who can pay attention to real groceries while licking an ice cream cone?
Yarn, Yarn, Yarn
That night we ate Alicia's Cincinnati chili and hamburgers, kindly grilled by Remo in the rain. After dinner, I was determined to get Alicia knitting since our time left in Canada was quickly slipping away. Brandan was fascinated by the knitted squares I was producing. With Alicia doing her best to figure it out and Brandan watching us, Remo decided he should get in on the action. I got him a pair of needles and a ball of yarn and soon he and Alicia were racing to see who could finish a row first.
I haven't had this one developed yet, but some day the link will work: http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~chirho/images/remoalicia.jpg
After an hour and many attempts, Remo called it quits while Alicia cracked her knuckles and worked through it. I never did get Allisun to try, but watching Remo was good enough for me.
Eventually we moved into the living room to talk and I set to work balling a skein of yarn. Within a few minutes I had created a giant tangled mess that Alicia and I spent the next couple hours clearing up. Allisun propped herself up on the sofa with a sleeping Kaillan on her stomach and we discussed everything from religion to adoption. Eventually both Allisun and Kaillan were falling off the couch and we called it a night.
How Many Places Can We Park in the Fire Lane?
Tuesday morning we spent at least as much time talking about where we had to go and what needed to be done as we spent actually doing those things. We ended up running to Club Price (to replace Allisun's contact that was a victim of the long night before), the bank (so Alicia could re-exchange her money), and the bagel store (I needed a big bag of those to bring home) in between trips to the airport for each of us, once again three hours apart.
Before we left, Allisun managed to whip up a potato-and-leek soup that even I thought was delicious in addition to cleaning most of her house and doing a number of loads of laundry in her washing machine (which must be possessed, it has so many issues). All of that must have happened before I woke up because it seemed to magically occur while I blinked.
I figured I must have made a good impression on Brandan since he said I could stay in his room as long as I wanted and could I please sew together the squares before I left?
Alicia was more concerned than I was about having enough time at the airport but she was the one dropped off with under 90 minutes before takeoff. By the time I was dropped off and hugs had been exchanged, Alicia had called to say there was plenty of time and I wasn't too concerned. I didn't realize that I'd be going through American customs before I left and that I had 15 things to do while still in the airport.
After running back and forth between the Northwest counter, the convenience store, the mailbox, and the money exchange booth, time was ticking away. I followed the signs for Customs and saw that the list of necessary forms included one Northwest hadn't given me. I stepped out of the long line, found the form (which I now saw looked suspiciously similar to one I already had), and inched forward to the Customs desk. The grapes Allisun had given me for the plane suddenly scared me-if I didn't report them and they were found, what would happen? I decided to risk it. The Customs agent had a good ol' American accent-they couldn't have found a friendlier guy to ask whether I'd come on business or pleasure. Going through the x-ray machine was uneventful, probably thanks to Alicia's warning that knitting needles were a no-no.
I then wandered through a long hallway under construction to the very last gate in the furthest concourse from the drop off point (remember Allisun, wondering if my gate would be in that wing?). After a bit of worrying why the flight wasn't listed on any overhead monitors or the gate, a number of other passengers brought up the same concern and safety in numbers eased my worries.
With ten minutes before takeoff, we finally began boarding, and I had yet another long windy tunnel to the plane. This time I shared my row with a businessman who promptly ordered a number of drinks and got comfortable in his seat. We had the middle seat between us, at least. I slept during takeoff and read a magazine for the rest of the flight.
After my long wait to meet Alicia in Montreal, I called my husband as I rode an escalator to the baggage claim. Before it finished ringing I saw him waiting for me and I breathed a long sigh of relief. As an extra bonus, my duffel bag immediately came down the chute AGAIN. Next time I fly my luggage will end up in Buenos Aires-I can't possibly have so much luggage luck without it somehow coming back to bite me.
After the excitement of the trip died down it became obvious that my cold and headache were getting worse, so the next day I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with a sinus infection. I spent most of the next three days recuperating at home.
Contrary to Allisun's fears, spending six days with two small children didn't cause me to come home and delay starting a family indefinitely. In fact, after telling my husband about the experience, we moved UP our TTC plans, if anything. Listening to Kaillan tell Allisun "I ouuuu…I ouuuu too…I ouuu moeee" (translation: I love you, I love you too, I love you more) was enough to want a toddler around. I'm so glad I was able to meet these three new (to real life) friends. Hopefully someday in the near future I'll have my own diary on iParenting and I'll be able to share more experiences like this one.
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