(Day 22) On disease, dilemmas and departures...

It was an eventful weekend.  On Sunday I was to return home and Anna was to pick me up at the airport and we were to have a few days together before my scheduled departure.  On Sunday morning Anna's mom ended up back in hospital and Anna had to make a quick trip to New Glasgow to be with her.  A dear friend stepped in and picked me up at the airport and I came home to a dilemma rooted in disease.

Worried about Anna's mom, worried for Anna... what to do.  I washed clothes and puttered around and wondered some more about what the "next right action" was in this situation.  Going to bed I knew that I needed to go to New Glasgow and see Anna and Chris.  Perhaps some clarity would come in a visit.

I arrived about noon.  Chris had improved overnight.  The medication what achieving the desired results and while the accommodations left a lot to be desired she was resting and regaining her strength.  Anna and I had lunch at the East Side restaurant located in a little strip mall across from the Hospital.  Lunch was tasty.  The burger while a bit small packs lots of taste (so I am told by Anna as she has eaten there just a few times lately).  I had the fish sandwich and it was quite good too!

As we talked it became a bit clearer to me that Anna was going to be ok, the Mark was going to be around to take a bit of the burden off of her, and while she would miss me, she is a strong woman who will do what needs to be done - as she has always done.  Returning to the hospital we had another brief visit with Chris, and a short visit with some other family members in the hallway followed by a quiet walk to the parking lot.  Anna was going shopping for her mom and then back to her mom's place for the night and I was returning to Sackville, only to leave in the morning for the next six or so weeks  of travelling and learning...

Lots of food for thought as I travelled over Mount Thom and through the Cobequid Pass...


"...the open road is a beckoning, a strangeness,
a place where a man can lose himself." 
William Least Heat Moon

This is to say, the journey I am to embark on tomorrow is not so much about finding something: myself, peace, wholeness, nirvana, salvation or some other such thing that is lost or broken and needs to be found... rather it is simply about the journey: the next vista, the bump in the pavement, the person in the coffee shop, the moment... to lose myself in the moment... to return refreshed and renewed.

In deep appreciation for those who make this journey possible:
Anna, for your love and encouragement, for your deep sense of home and family and all that you do that creates a place of safety, warmth and care for our family.
Justin and Zack, for putting up with your dad's desire to travel and explore and I hope that somehow this nurtures within you the will to follow your own dreams - whatever they may be.
Mom and Dad, for nurturing in me my love of motorcycles (buying me my first one and not kicking me out of the house when I bought my second) and doing all that you did that enabled me to be able to communicate with the world around me.
Chris, for raising such a wise, strong, caring woman and nurturing within her a deep commitment to family and others she loves.  
Brian, for the rides we shared as children and teenagers, hoping that one day in the future we can ride together again.  If not ride, then maybe just do a few more things together. 
Location: Sackville, NB, Canada

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