Well, not just yet.
But we enjoyed a family dinner with Gerry’s siblings and their spouses on Sunday in honour of our pending move to Saskatchewan. I’m pretty sure it was the first time we all got together before you-know-what so it was especially good to gather again.
We intentionally arrived in Vernon early—in part because we had to vacate the house for another open house, but also so Gerry would have time for a trip down memory lane, so to speak, in the town where he was born and raised.
Much like I did when we were in Moose Jaw this summer, he pointed out landmarks like the school he attended in third grade right after it opened. “So-and-so used to live there.” “My paper route included all of this.” “The old pumphouse was there.” We parked in front of the house he grew up in and he pointed out the window that once belonged to his bedroom and he talked about the huge garden they had. I had heard all of these things before—as he did when I told my own stories in Moose Jaw—but listened and absorbed and bore witness to the gift and balm of childhood memories doing their sweet, deep work. We hiked to the top of Black Rock where Gerry and his brothers spend countless hours as kids and he took advantage of an opportunity to tell a man we encountered what it was like around there 60+ years ago.
Later, after a delicious dinner we enjoyed immensely (keto be damned for one night), we drove home. I got on my phone right away to check out the situation in southern Saskatchewan where the first blast of winter was wreaking havoc. It hadn’t let up; roads were closed; there were widespread power outages; and my girls were huddled under blankets trying to stay warm at home after a harrowing drive from Moose Jaw to Caronport (in which Laurinda was a godsend to a family stranded in the snow with a baby). We texted briefly so I could rest relatively assured that they were safe.
I am now well acquainted with the websites to check highways and the status of power outages in the province. I’m in all the appropriate FB groups so aI can keep up to date with what’s happening. And we’re shopping for generators as we prepare to say bye bye to BC and hello to a Saskatchewan winter.
(I wish we had thought to capture a photo of all of us. My sister-in-love caught this quick one when we were leaving.)
Dear Linda – although I have been reading your blog for some time, I have never commented but I am intrigued with your move to Moose Jaw. I grew up in a small village about 45 minutes from Moose Jaw so it was there where my parents did the “big” grocery shop, where my dad bought his vehicles and my brother played hockey during his high school years and I attended a Bible college there so it holds a special place in my heart as well. Although I now live in Alberta, I still love to drive through Moose Jaw and look at all the changes that have taken place over the years. I wish you well in your move.
Hi Bernice, nice to “meet” you. Thanks so much for your thoughts and memories about Moose Jaw. It’s been the home of my heart since my family moved to BC in the early 1970s and I can’t wait to return.