Laura in Deep River

Laura likes to stay busy.  So I had made a number of plans for us.  One of the plans was to take her up to Deep River to see Sarah during the week that she was visiting.  Unfortunately there was some miscommunication and Sarah didn’t know we were coming.  Sarah was going out for dinner with her friends from the residence the night we came to visit.  They were saying goodbye to one of the guys who was leaving at the end of the term.  Sarah really didn’t have time for us.  But she invited us to dinner with all of her friends at a local Mexican restaurant.  Then after dinner, she played the good host and showed Laura around Deep River.

A couple of days later, Laura and I drove to Deep River again to pick up Sarah and bring her back to Ottawa for the weekend.  There was no need to drive to Deep River during the week.

Laura’s Passport Problem

Laura decided to go to New York for her birthday then visit us on the way back to Halifax.  

First, though, she had to find her passport.  She didn’t realize that she needed her passport until the last minute.  Then she couldn’t find it.  She had packed up all of her stuff.  A friend took all the stuff to a farm out of town and put in a storage shed.  Laura doesn’t have a car in Halifax.  So she had to get a ride to her friend’s house.  She and her friend’s boyfriend searched the shed, unpacking all of her stuff, throwing it around the shed.  They finally found the passport.  Then she had to rush to the airport to make her flight.

Laura had a complicated itinerary.  She flew from Halifax to New York where she stayed with a friend from NSCAD who had already graduated and was working as an artist in New York.  She stayed there for a few days. Then she took an overnight bus from New York to Ottawa and Barb picked her up at the bus station early in the morning.  She stayed with us for a week.  Then she went back to Halifax with a friend and her friend's boyfriend by car.  I dropped her off at her friend’s boyfriend’s mother’s house in Orleans on the night before she went back.

A Dream that Almost Became Reality

Sarah was getting a ride from Deep River with one of the other student’s sister.  However, they would be going to Carleton Place which is 45 minutes away from Barrhaven. Barb and Ivan would have to drive there and pick her up late on Friday night.

Barb spent the evening on Google Maps trying to find the best route to Carleton Place from Barrhaven.  Barb didn’t want Sarah to have to wait while her and Ivan drove there.  So Barb tried to reach Sarah to find out where she was and when she would be arriving in Carleton Place so that Barb and Ivan could meet her there when she arrived.

Sarah wasn’t answering her phone calls from Barb.  Barb asked Ivan if they should just start driving to Carleton Place.  As usual Ivan didn’t have an opinion.  Finally, Barb got in touch with Sarah, Barb asked her where she was.  Sarah told Barb she was in Barrhaven and would be home in a few minutes.

It turned out the girl’s family lived in Bell’s Corners in West Ottawa only a few minutes from Barrhaven.  Carleton Place was all a dream.  Barb was very happy she hadn't convinced Ivan to start driving to Carleton Place to meet Sarah.

Saved by The Family Man’s Daughter

With all the things that were going on, Ivan forgot his wedding anniversary for the first time in 28 years.  Fortunately, he was saved by Barb’s good memories of the movie The Family Man in which the Nicholas Cage character supposedly forgot his wedding anniversary and he was helped out the hole he was in by a four year old with a funny voice.  Although, Ivan felt bad, warm memories of The Family Man movie helped Barb forgive him.

Lecturing Friends of Friends

Sarah sent Ivan an email about a lecture she was going to at Atomic Energy being given by a scientist from National Defence.  She wanted to know if Ivan knew him.  Later she phoned to see if Ivan had received her email.

Ivan looked at the email and although he didn’t know the lecturer, Ivan thought his friend David Waller might know him.  He wrote a reply to Sarah’s email.   

The next day he was talking to David Waller and asked him about the lecturer.  David Waller said he did know the lecturer well.  He worked in the office next to David.  They had been friends for 18 years and David had been part of his wedding party.  Ivan sent Sarah another email telling her this story.

Sarah went to the lecture on Friday.  Unfortunately, Sarah never received Ivan’s emails.  The emails had gone into her Junk Mail folder.

Double Her Money

Sarah is organizing a team for Relay for Life again this year.  The team consists of Atomic Energy co-op students and call themselves the Nuclear Power Rangers.

She set her goal to $500 and asked Barb and Ivan to send out the link to her personal page to their friends.  Barb thought Sarah had set her goal too low.  Sarah soon had more than $500 in donations.  Sara raised her goal to $1000 dollars.  She soon had more than $1000 in donations.

Barb got a note from her friend Linda Becker saying she had donated to Sarah’s cause but had doubled her original donation when she read Sarah well written personal cause based on her story of Gramma Taylor’s fight with cancer when Sarah was a baby.

Memorable Barb

Sarah needed a car in Deep River.  Barb and Sarah went out one weekend and found a 2003 Honda Civic with low mileage and no rust.  It was private sale from an Indian lady named Panda.  Panda was selling the car after only owning it for a few months because her husband had found a job in United States.

Sarah bought the car but wouldn’t get it until Panda was moving.  Barb had to sign the paperwork as if she was buying the car to get the license and the insurance.

Just before Sarah was coming to Ottawa to pick up the car, Barb went out to get the license.  The lady at the Service Ontario remembered Barb from many years ago when Barb bought her Honda Civic.  Barb must be very memorable.

Barb bought license plates for Sarah.  The ladies behind the counter competed to see which one of them could pick the most memorable license plates.  One lady found one with BTXW 499 on it.  Barb thought she would remember 499 because that was a common sale price for the things she buys.  She could remember BT because it stands for Barb Taylor.  But what would XW stand for.  One lady said Ex Winner.  Barb took offense from that saying she was still a winner.  Then the other lady said Extra Witty.  Barb agreed she was extra witty and took the license plates.