My aunt in Toronto had her 100 th! Birthday April 30,2008.
I intended to visit her and celebrate the event with other family members. So I phoned my cousin, and told her about my idea. Great, the weekend would be fine, she will give me further notice, was her response.
I didn’t hear from her. So I went ahead and booked with AIR MILES, only some few seats were available for the weekend, and e.mailed her my arrivel and departure time. She is still stewardess and I figured out that she would know where to go. Of a sudden I got a furious response by phone: Erika, you have to cancel your flight, you can’t come, the time is too short, the care-home closes at 8 pm, I will not pick you up and bring you back to the airport, she also involved my other cousin in Seattle, who happened to be in a Boeing meeting. Now both of them advised me strongly, not to go at all.
Of course I would go, on my own. I looked into a Toronto City Map and realized that auntie’s home was on the other end of the metropolitan, in Scarborough. The situation promised to become an “amazing race”.
I left my home in Westbank Saturday morning, parked my car at Kelwona Airport, security took my tea, but left me my cake, boarded the plane to Calgary, changed plane for Toronto, raced levels up and down to catch the bus to downtown Toronto-Union Station. Now find the Go-Train, the ticket counter, the right track. I must have looked so desperate, that people asked me, whether they could help, they ran with me for a while or pointed into the right direction for the train. I left the train at Guildwood Station, searching for a taxi. Just then, miraculously, dashed a white cab around the corner. I asked the driver to take me to the care-home….and 5 minutes to 8 pm we arrived there, I asked the cabby to wait for me, ran to the reception desk , introduced myself and the receptionist stormed with me through the corridors to my auntie’s room. I am not sure, whether my aunt recognized me, with 100 years of age everything gets a bit blurry, I guess….but I did my best to make her feel comfortable…the flowers which were sent already from Kelowna brightened the room. For me it was saying Good bye,…….Good bye to the last one of a whole generation. Then it was time to leave. I went back with the taxi to Guildwood Station, and from there again to the airport.
Already in our new BCCA –office in Westbank I had booked a Best Western Airport hotel. Lots of people crowded into the airport-shuttle bus, so we put our luggage in the back. As soon as we departed, the bus driver informed us about two Best Western Airport hotels in Toronto and whether we were sure to sit in the right bus for the right one. I was unable to confirm, because I could not reach my luggage. Of course, It was the wrong Hotel. It took a while to get transferred to the already booked hotel, but this didn’t matter so much any more, with mission accomplished. Shortly before 11 pm I arrived at the new location, but now I felt hungry and thirsty. The restaurant was closed already, but the lounge was just about to close at 11. So I went straight into there; and…… was greeted with open arms, Greek music, wine, a party, I just wondered when the Greeks would start throwing their plates! But everything comes to an end; and I fell finally into my bed.
On the next morning I had a complimentary breakfast, took the shuttle bus to the airport, boarded the flight to Kelowna and was back in Westbank in the afternoon, working a bit in my garden.
Had I really been there, or was it just a dream?
Labels: Onehundredst Birthday
No comments:
Post a Comment