Tomorrow
our family leaves for Montreal, VIA train!
This
prospect is very exciting for all of us: my husband is looking
forward to getting somewhere without having to drive the whole way
(his co-driver tends to want to fall asleep while driving) and while being
able to stand up and walk around; my oldest son has been waiting all his life
to visit a big city; my youngest two are satisfied with just being
excited about everything.
For
me, travelling by train is a dream come true. It all started one day
more than 30 years ago....
I
was in Mrs. Donnelly's grade 3/4 class with the chalkboards on wheels
for walls. Each day started with a Mad Minute math test and show and
tell followed by a story. We were still young enough for show and
tell in those days. I had written off show and tell for myself in
kindergarten already after I brought my favorite doll and no one
asked me any questions about her, but I still loved to hear about my
classmates things and life events.
This
particular day was very memorable in my mind. Wayne Friesen brought
a puppet that day, the kind where the puppet's arms and legs can be
velcroed around your neck and waist and you stick your whole arm in
it to make it seem almost alive. I had never seen such a puppet and
his was Garfield. I had no idea who Garfield was. Then Wayne
informed us that Garfield's best friend was Odie (what a name!?!) and
his favorite food was lasagne (I had never heard of lasagne before
and had no idea what that was either). Hearing about so many things
that I didn't know about in such a short time was quite overwhelming.
I started reading Garfield comics shortly after this initial
encounter. Thank you, Wayne, for introducing me to such an esteemed
character!
And
then the story time. Mrs. Donnelly told Wayne to put Garfield back
in his school bag and pulled out the book she had chosen to read. It
was called “All Aboard: Across Canada by Train.” It was the
account of a young woman who travelled across Canada by train, if you
can imagine! She told about the different cities that she stopped at
and the interesting people she met. I was completed entranced! What
a romantic idea! (although that's probably not the word I used at
the time). I knew I had to travel by train sometime in my life.
I
have very few other memories from Grade 3, but that morning stuck out
as a shining beacon in my little life. To learn of Garfield and have
a dream born in the first 15 minutes of the school day was life
altering.
It
took more than 30 years for the dream to become a reality, but
tomorrow is the day! I have three kids who are having a hard time
falling asleep tonight and a suitcase calling out to be packed.
Bon
voyage á
nous! Montréal,
ici nous venons! (Does that work in French?)
Check
back two years from now to see if my Grade 5 dream of travelling to
Italy will also come true!