Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: Wednesday April 27, 2022 Finalities

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Wednesday April 27, 2022

As my final visiting days in Alberta come to a close, I did my utmost to connect with more relatives and to tie up loose ends.

I heard that cousin Maurice from Regina was in hospital with Covid complications. Get well quickly dear friend.

I began with a visit to my Auntie Jeannette and Uncle Emilian at their apartment in the extreme north of Calgary. I waited until they had finished their exercise class then we had a wonderful conversation catching up on all their family news. They have 19 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. We went through photo albums and had a lot of memories re-surface. Jeannette is the youngest of Mom's family and one of 4 remaining. On this trip I have managed to visit 3 of those. Jeannette tried to reach Auntie Marie-Emma in Montreal but we were sadly unsuccessful. Again,I am absolutely amazed that no-one seems to have aged and they are all very sharp mentally. We had a nice lunch in their communal dining room before I had to make my goodbyes.

I then went further, to the north of Calgary, missing an exit and needing to backtrack, to get to Cross Iron Mills, a huge shopping complex. There, I was meeting my goddaughter Erin. Sadly, her brother Joey had just been operated on and could not join us. That would have been wonderful but not everyone's schedules can coincide with our tiny time frames. We only had an hour to chat so, in retrospect, there are a lot of questions that I did not get to ask. Again, Erin looks like the youthful soul that I remembered. She, and her two children and husband, Siebe, live in Irricana, a little bit further north.

Thank God for the use of Karen's Honda CRV to beable to do these visits and for Waze and Google Maps for helping me to navigate to the various locations. There are so many new roads, and I get so easily turned around, that those apps are invaluable.

I navigated my way back to my brother Fern's place for another touching visit. We got into viewing many photos again and laughing about old times and old friends and relatives. That got us going into genealogy,which is a heavy new passion of Eileen's and I expressed my wish to get my DNA investigated as she had done. Eileen is certain that the genealogy DNA kits from Ancestry.com are the most superior and accurate. She has also found that buying unwanted kits on Kijiji is more economical. So we found a seller and have put in a bid. If we get a favourable response, I can spit into a tube in the kit and Eileen will kindly mail it off and I can expect results in 6-8 weeks! That will save awkward mailing to Colombia. Our family tree is so convoluted with intermarriages that the results could be amazing. We even opened a new account on Ancestry.com and found my daughter registered there too.

It was late when I returned to Russ and Angie's butthey had not eaten so we decided to eat out (wing night at Boston Pizza) and then to return the CRV to Karen's acreage so I would not have to interrupt Angie's work-from-home schedule tomorrow. I was going to buy supper, but Russ has a quick and lucky hit on the slot machine so he insisted on buying!

I managed to get a decent shot of the Calgary skyline while driving up Sarcee Trail and then a very nice Rockies sunset from Highway 22. Karen and Roger were waiting for us and they kindly gave Russ and Angie a quick tour of the mansion. Thank you again to Karen for the use of the CRV.

I can't express enough gratitude to all those folks that have helped make this trip a roaring success. So many unexpected people have opened their doors and hearts to meand that generosity will never be forgotten. I must single out Russ and Angie for special mention because I have been staying here twice and they have gone to such extraordinary lengths to make me feel at home and to anticipate my needs, never mind the awesome meals.... I can't express my gratitude strong enough for their complete unselfishness and concern. They are the salt of the earth.

So the realization is that many of the folks that I have visited may not be around by the time I can visit again. It is hard not to get maudlin and weepy when saying the goodbyes as we hope that everyone defies the odds and beats the Grim Reaper. Huge hugs to everyone.......

I hope you enjoy the pictures. That was the day’s excitement.

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