Vancouver Island

What a whirlwind it has been since arriving on Vancouver Island April 27^th.  Dinners with Brod, my #1 son, while Mone, his beautiful girlfriend, worked either at her restaurant job or in her ballerina role with Ballet Victoria.  Hours on my own, roaming the multitude of cute shops that abound in both the downtown and outlying areas, putting many steps on my feet as I explored new and familiar areas of this pretty little City.  A sweet little Air B and B in the Oak Bay area before moving to a new “home” in the thick of things, joined for the weekend by Brenda from Vancouver.  (Yes, the same Brenda who was on the South Pacific jaunt with us.  We have seen so much of each other in the past 3 months and after I leave BC Wednesday who knows when we will get to adventure again?!)  And in between, camping with Debbie, a friend of over 40 years who lives in Vancouver and who bravely navigated her first at the helm camping trip towing their little A-Liner.   And then to the ballet to watch Mone dance in several roles in Peter Pan.  Somehow, I cobbled together go to the ballet clothes from my little red suitcase.  It helps that almost anything goes as far as appropriate ballet audience wardrobes thank heavens!

But back to the camping…..now I know to many I probably don’t appear to be the camping type.  After all, it wasn’t that long ago I was writing about beautiful homes we were renting, some of which had their very own swimming pool and all sorts of making life easier gadgets.  But hey!  I have the ability to go without running water (and therefore the ability to shower and wash my hair) with the best of them.  Not only do I find it liberating to travel lightly there is also, for me, something wildly untamed about going about in the same clothes for a few days, bereft of shower, makeup (except lipstick, as you know, always the lipstick!) and no thoughts of even consulting a mirror to see what would look back at me.  I prefer to think I have a wild but cool hippy sort of aura about me in such times; I’d be afraid to check and find instead a very uncool, slightly deranged looking old woman staring back at me which I think is likely more accurate.  And hey all you women of a certain age, if you think you are invisible to younger men you pass by on the streets of civilization, try camping.  You will not even exist.  The really cool young coastal people, looking like posters for an outdoor sporting goods store, will occupy all of the attention and then some.  Sigh.  I really am a little elder.  Complete with the visible signs of aging AND some of the wisdom that goes along with being in this chapter of life.  (Although if you are reading any of my dating stories you will know that wisdom has been a long time coming.  And still may elude me on that front.  Opportunity for growth I’d say!) 

Anyway, the camping, back to the camping!  Debbie had practiced how to drive and park with the rig behind her, and then somehow remembered from the lessons given her by her patient husband, all of the steps to putting up the trailer then taking it down.  As a result, we had running water in the kitchen sink (until we used it all), a furnace that worked and kept us warm all night, an outdoor stove that made cooking and water heating for dishes super easy.  I could feel her pride at pulling all of this off herself and heck, I felt a little pride right alongside her, the two of us grandma’s setting up camp for three nights with nary an incident.  We started fires in the fire pit, are healthy meals, went for long hikes and blissfully sat on the rocky beach, our backs against an old piece of driftwood, catching up on life reminiscing and talking all things interesting and mundane all at the same time.  Oh, there was the bear sighting on the beach day 2; not by us, we only saw his scat on the trail thank heavens.  Between that and the cougars who apparently have been known to lay in wait in tree branches for their unsuspecting prey to walk underneath, I skipped morning runs and middle of the night trips to the pit toilet.  (Yes, no running water there either!)  Funny how with the right motivation one can forgo leaving their cozy camp bed in the dark. 

Those are just the highlights; I feel I could have picked any one day and written a whole post on it but somehow sitting and writing was displaced by the opportunity to explore.  Tomorrow we are out early as we both have acupuncture appointments first thing (my 3^rd such visit while here, I am fascinated by the role traditional medicine plays in assisting us become and stay healthy.  I have little, tiny beads in each ear that I can press on to do my own sort of mobile, no needles required, acupressure) and then we will wind our way without any need for haste to the ferry and make our voyage back to mainland BC. 

And one final, I was sad saying goodbye to Brodie tonight.  It has been so good seeing him and seeing him in his own environment in the life he has made for himself here.  It is not easy having your children spread out across two continents but I remain impressed and happy for each of them that they are living their best lives.  And if that means I have to keep bopping around to see them, then I shall be the very best bopper I can be.

xo