The Top of Halifax is Always a Pleaser
So one of my favourite things about travelling, and one of the parts most NOT in keeping with my typical methods, is when an unexpected or unplanned event becomes a memorable aspect that you couldn't script even if you tried. Today was one of those days.
We woke up in Dartmouth and felt rested and refreshed after an evening of luxurious AirBnB accommodations uncertain what the day had planned for us. I had one friend in Halifax, a wonderful woman I met during teachers college, 12 years ago! Sarah and I met the first day and became fast friends - we had hours of class together and spent most of it rolling our eyes at one another and escaping class to go find something else to do. Truthfully, Sarah is a born teacher, and I'm alright, but we're both pretty awful students. Especially when sitting next yo each other. Couple that with some very boring, sometimes condescending tutelage, and you get two would-be teachers fleeing class regularly.
In any event, Sarah was a very important part of my life for those early years. We spent lots of time together talking about students (she started her career in TO), music, food and life. Sarah vetted Theresa when she came into my life (she was always a fan). And then she moved home to Halifax/Dartmouth. A little while later everyone started having kids and we just lost touch. T would show me a funny pic of Sarah and her kids, or would tell me about Sarah's class via her Instsgram account - but since I'm not on any social media I didn't interact at all and learned of everything only second hand. So when we decided to come East this summer I knew I at least wanted to reach out to Sarah and her fam.
We played email tag for a few weeks and had some very tentative plans made, but nothing for sure. Then as we were driving south from Cape Breton Island we got an invite to go to Sarah's place for breakfast. Great.
After breakfast we decided we would play it by ear. Two young families (Sarsh has two gems - Libby's 8(?) and Tom is 5) a long time removed, I think we were both a little nervous to over commit. Fortunately we had little to worry about.
Sarah and her family live just a few minutes away from our lake front retreat and we found it easily. And it was like we'd seen each other last week. Sarah hasn't changed a bit, except that she's wiser than she was even back then. She's still incredibly warm and kind and funny and spectacular. Gord ran up to her as if they were old friends and was talking about how 'funny' she was to Theresa almost immediately. She had made us a huge stack of pancakes and had delicious fruit and savoury stuff waiting as well. The kids took plates into the living room to watch a show while the adults caught up and choked on laughs and pancakes in the kitchen.
And it lasted all day.
We went to the park. We talked more while the kids played. We went back for an amazing meal of quesadillas and salads and more fruit. Then the kids played in the yards while we sat and laughed some more on the back deck. The boys fought a bit, 5 and almost 5 is a tough age socially, but when we decided Hannah needed a real break and Sarah and her fam deserved some time NOT entertaining, the boys cried at being separated. Our 'breakfast' visit lasted all day and a strong friendship was revived. We have made plans to stay connected once we get home, friends this good don't just come sround that often, and Sarah has family in TO so comes to 'upper Canada' fairly regularly. A great and unexpected part of this trip!
The playground at Libby and Tom's school was a big hit for our young man. Cooooool!
Tom and Libby were generous and gracious hosts all day.
The best friends they didn't know they had - minus T, the camera woman.
After that we went 'home', packed a bit and planned our next move. Tomorrow we had a long drive to Digby in order to catch an 11:00 am ferry - we had to get on the road by 7:30, no small feat for this small army. Luckily we fell into an easy slumber with sore stomachs from all the laughing and a few more great memories.
We never even made it to Halifax, never went out-crawling, and we didn't care. A great day had by all! For what more could we ask.
How Can We Talk the Kids Into a Pub Crawl?
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