When the opportunity came up for Alice to attend an EFY conference in London, Ontario I thought, that's fun, I could go see Shawn. But Alice didn't want to go. When it got closer to the weekend Melanee started bugging Alice that she needed to come. And kids needed rides. So Alice was convinced and a weekend with Shawn would actually be realized!
I had a P.A. Day on Friday which worked perfectly for me to be able to be ready and not overwhelmed from a day at work. We had a half day onsite and then a half day off site. I took a little detour on the way home and took some pretty pictures. I picked up Alice after school, brought her home, she and I got ready and then we picked up Limengo, we picked up Alexia and we picked up Alexia's bag, and then we were on our way.
After dropping Alice off at the stake centre I went and checked into the hotel and Shawn came over. There was a Blue Jays play off game - game 1 of the World Series in Toronto. The Jays against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Shawn was wearing the shirt that she had gotten for free from Boston Pizza the week before after we went to Chudleighs. We turned the game on and just chatted until it was time to go get Alice. I had promised Alice that she wouldn't have to billet, that we could stay at a hotel. Oh and funny/fun fact, it was Shawn and Sean's wedding anniversary today.
Shawn came with me to pick up Alice and she had the game on her phone from her sibling group chat and we were in the car together when the Jays exploded and basically won the game - game one. One of the young men from our ward Ryan LaFrance had been at the Rogers Centre part of the group singing the national anthems - totally cool. Shawn has also posted pics in her stories of her Mom ironing during the playoff games, because that's what helps them win! Lina loves baseball and it seems like the playoffs have been keeping her alive. (Shawn's sweet Mama is dying of PSP)
The next morning I got Alice breakfast at Starbucks across the street and took her back to the stake centre, just a little bit late, but it was okay.
Next stop was mailing Joey's birthday package - his birthday was yesterday, oops.
Then I went to Shawn's house. It had been too many years since I'd been and I needed to get my bearings for when she's poloing me so I can make sense of where she is! We sat and chatted and just hung out for a bit and it was lovely.
Our first stop was a quick visit to her parent's place. We popped in and said hi to Fred. Lina was sleeping and no one wanted to wake her up, so we didn't.
Our next stop was a bakery in Aylmer, Abby Mae's Gluten Free Bakery. We got there and there was no where to sit down and eat. We looked around at all of the fun things and then we asked and found out that they have a second location at a year round farmer's market around the corner called Old Imperial Market. It was so cute! We looked around a bunch, took some pictures and then eventually we picked some things to eat from Abby Mae's.
Our lunch was so yummy. I had a chicken hand pie and Shawn had a galette. They were delicious. After that we picked up a few things - Shawn an adorable wooden gnome to hang on her fence, and I picked up a little thing for everyone - Milo too. (Soap for Ken, a 3D printed dog for Kate, a wooden Christmas tree for Fiona, dog treats for Milo)
Our next stop was a Train Trestle bridge park in St. Thomas. It was so cute.
We drove past the Jumbo the elephant memorial and took a pic out the window. It's rather a sad story, Jumbo died here after being struck by a train.
We stopped off at one more place, a cute store with cute things and I bought a cute little thing for Alice - a ceramic dish that I envision her keeping jewelry things in and then I dropped Shawn back off at the Tiesma-Miller residence. (Side Alice story - I hadn't gotten something for Alice because I thought she might want to pick something, but that made her sad, and so I picked something for her.)
These days Shawn is part of my daily life. Our chats are silly, ridiculous, distracted, long, healing, and an extremely important part of my life. I'm grateful for my dear friend, and I'm grateful that Alice gave me a good excuse to see her in person beyond our yearly Chudleigh's visit. I love you Shawn!
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