When I spoke with my brother and my parents over the weekend a strange request came up during our conversation. “How about you fly here and help me with the drywall?” I delayed answering by saying that I have to confer with my other half but somehow I knew that I would be going. 

There are still a bunch of days left before I have to start work and this would greatly help my brother et all out. He is at the stage where he can start closing up all of the walls. And the sooner he can have all of that done the sooner he can finish up and move in. As it stands he is now two months behind schedule. He wants to have this project finished as he is dividing himself between work, home, and the renovation. There just isn’t enough of him to go around. 

He got himself a fixer upper and as it stands all of the work that he put into it will greatly improve the house and make for a better home. For me to get there I had to search all of the available options but there isn’t that much to chose from. We live near a small airport that doesn’t have that much in the way of connections. At least I had times to chose from. All of the flights by one of the airlines fly to one of the Alberta airports and then from there I have to transfer onto another plane to fly to the coast. 

This new development gave me the impetus to work harder at home in order to finish as much as I could. It took hours to do certain portions that is just how long it takes. I have the time now to set things right might as well take advantage of that. Having said that I am surprised that it is taking as long as it is. Who would have thought that it would be a month of unpacking and organizing and still there are things left to do! I’m happy with the results and I am happy being there. It feels good. 

Thursday morning I had some time to collect my thoughts and try to catch up with all that has been going on. I probably won’t have time to catch up again until I am flying home. Certain things get put on the back burner as priorities focus attention on the tasks at hand. It is bitter cold in Saskatoon and the bus is taking its sweet time getting this bus stop. A beautiful sunny day is taking shape. Chrl will be staying behind as she has her schoolwork to continue. There is a lot of work that she has to do and I won’t be there to tempt her into faffing. 

The weather forecast is calling for snow on the west coast. This is always a recipie for disaster as drivers are not prepared for the stuff. Mind you the west coast is enjoying a proper winter this year. They had snow for the holidays in December and the least remnants of it were still melting when I landed. It was a nice day when I landed although the wind had a bit of bite. It’s that wet cold that gets you to the bone versus the dry cold I’ve been getting used to. My sis was picking me up from the airport. She was a bit late but that’s okay it was only a few minutes. 

My sis told me that my dad was away still up at 70 Mile. “What was he doing there?” one might be tempted to ask and the truth is that he sold some sausage making equipment to someone and they requested that he show them how to make it. My dad is a Master sausage maker and he had someone drive with him out there. Aniusia and I had some time to hang out so we decided to drive out to Vancouver and hit up a dispensary and a coffee shop. This would allow us to hang out together. This is after all an unexpected visit. 

We caught up in the things that were happening in our lives. I told her about my organizational adventures and she told me about hers. She is trying to get better after her injury but progress is difficult. They rushed her into work a bit too soon when she wasn’t ready causing her to aggravate it. This time she is being a bit more cautious. She was more curious about how I was adapting to my life out there than I was about her recovery. She is well enough to hang out with me though. 

My sis is working on a plan to move forward onto another level in life. She has found a place where she is doing alright. She is at the “Now what?” stage. That place in life where it is the end of one journey and another direction that will take her to the next destination has to be found. A destination is kind of like a marker that orients one’s perspective. We keep hearing that it’s all about the journey and that’s true but you still need a destination. 

My sis wanted to change some things in her flat. The television stand was taking up way too much room in her place. She wanted the tv mounted on the wall. She could have asked my dad but it wouldn’t turn out as good she said. Besides this gives us more time to spend together. We also needed to set up video calling in my parent’s new flat. They acquired a computer that will do the trick but it is lacking in this one feature. All of these things went quite smoothly. When we got to my parent’s house we had a short chat but we had to be up very early in order to catch the 0515 ferry to Duke Point. Dad and I had to be at my brother’s house by 0830 so that we could supervise unloading of the drywall. My dad felt better sleeping in his own bed versus driving out there at this late hour. I agree and having been up for a long long time I went to sleep knowing that we will be up in a few hours time.