TRIP INTO THE PAST





There was to be a memorial for my dear sister in May and I decided to do the 7 hour drive to get there. Flying would take just as long because it takes an hour just to get to the airport then you wait a couple of hours once your there, yada, yada, yada... At the last minute, relatively speaking, I decided that life is too short and as I did not have a job to rush home to because tax season was over, I was going to make long overdue visits to old friends and family. I especially wanted to see my Mother's sister who was still alive, having survived breast cancer back in the 60's. A miracle that was not part of the belief system of my wonderful sibling. Her memorial was beautiful. Her 4 daughters, all the grandchildren and great grand children were there. She now lies in a plot under a tree beside one of our brothers who predeceased her.





My second stop was Toronto, a city that I lived in many years ago. A friend previously mentioned as 'Squakinbush' in earlier posts, still lived there. As day to day living can keep us so busy, I had not seen her in many years. She and her husband treated me like royalty. I lacked for nothing. My wish was their command, so we visited the 'Art Gallery', the 2 homes that I occupied while living there, we walked the boardwalk in an area called 'the Beaches', went to the movies and saw 'Startrek'. When it was time for me to head off to Montreal, I was proffered a bag of trail mix, cheese and crackers and an apple to keep me healthy and vitalized. Truly, I can't wait until my next visit. Hopefully they will come my way soon!





Next stop, Montreal. Most of my family had vacated the city where I was born in the early 80's when my father retired, but some were still there. It is still a wonderful city. Big, beautiful and bustling. The only drawback was the traffic. In a city with such a terrific transit system, it is amazing how many people are driving. An activity they do with the intention of getting to their destination as rapidly as they can, at the cost of ignoring anyone else on the road who does not move quite as decisively as themselves, i.e. tourists like me. Still I love them. I stayed with my sister in law who is no longer married to my brother, but hey, I didn't get a divorce from her. We had such a grand time catching up on life. It had been 30 years since my last visit! It was as if all that time had not elapsed. Sisters even still, stauing up all night talking! We only realized how old we had become when trying to function the next day.




AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT!



Anyway, she had to work the next day, so I went to town taking photographs of all the homes I had lived in during my formative years. Gazing upon one of those homes brought back a memory long since forgotten. I lived there between the ages of 5 and 8. The memory flash was like lightning. In fact it was of Lightning! I was standing just in front of the steps to the entrance, facing the entrance, when I believed that a flash of lightning had just passed between me and the brick wall. At the time I felt very lucky that it missed me. The picture above is the home where this enlinghtning moment occurred.





This memory was forgotten once again until the other night. I was asleep when I was abruptly woken up by a very loud and sharp crack of thunder. The building was shaken. I was shaken. I realized that the entire left side of my body was tingling, as if all the molecules were excited and moving around like boiling water! At that moment the memory of me standing beside that brick wall staring at my front door grabbed hold of me again. It took about 3 days for that tingling sensation to finally subside. I must use the word subside because in fact that sensation never completely goes away. To date, all of my symtoms related to MS have been located on my left side and I really have to wonder if there is not some connection to this event on a hot summer day back in Montreal!