In Appreciation.

I have just finished reading another post on a friend's blog and it leaves me humbled and heartsore.  Friends since high school, we have followed each other's lives over the years - she and her family emigrating to the shores of Australia, and ourselves - departing in the opposite direction to Canada.  


Full of expectations and exuberance for the future, we thought we would always have time - time to actually meet physically in their home in Australia - time to sit down and enjoy catching up over coffee and breakfast, or relaxing on a couch reminiscing about the old daysdlchat,  and time to get to know 'us' all over again.


Now it seems that time is no longer on our side.  Mike is still courageously battling cancer, but I can read between the lines - that awful disease is ruthless and I fear that our time to meet as a foursome is nearly up.


And what do you say to someone who has fought, pummeled, and cajoled with the cold and soulless monster that is cancer?  My friend and her family have faced that onslaught with passion, with humour, with determination, and with dignity.  We salute you!

It just makes me think: Make the most of your time each day.  Appreciate each moment and never pass up an opportunity to say 'I love you', or even 'Let's meet'.

PostNote: Mike passed away in October.  Rest in Peace.  Go with God.

King Tut Toronto

A weekend in Toronto - King Edward Hotel on King Street with the aim of seeing the King Tutankamen Exhibition ... hmmm - "We three Kings of Orient are..."

A lovely getaway weekend - far from the madding crowd - no chores, no meals to prepare, no animals to take care of, no phone calls, no computers - bliss!  The hotel is splendid and luxurious, the room cozy and comfortable.  Dinner out and then relaxing.  Saturday morning - up early, breakfast round the corner and then a pick up van right outside the hotel to convey us to the AGO - Art Gallery of Ontario.  Thank goodness we had prepaid tickets which allowed us to bypass the long snake of people waiting patiently to get in.  We joined the hordes and shuffled our way along the designated route of the exhibition. 

It was certainly interesting and vibrant, but the downside of crowds of people leaning into exhibits that ran 4 and 5 lines deep had a major dampening effect.  You were stuck behind 4 layers of people trying to glimpse snippets of views between peoples armpits and shoulders.  Some intransigent viewers would hold up the shuffling minions for minutes at a time trying to absorb who knows what. 

All in all, we came away from the Exhibition with two feelings: One - determined to make a vacation destination to the real site in Cairo and the Valley of the Kings.  Two - unimpressed with AGO management style whose goal was to squish the maximum amount of people into the minimum amount of space in the quickest time for the biggest buck.  And maybe number three: to leave TO to TO's.  Busy, expensive, mediocre restaurants and 905ers made to feel like strangers in the wilderness.

Nevertheless, a good time was had by all - it got us away from the usual after all!