This past weekend, Mike and I headed back home to surprise Mom as it was her surprise retirement party. I picked Mike up at Tunney’s Pasture at 4PM and we were on the road to a road trip weekend!
Have you ever entered ‘the zone’ while driving? There are long road trips out there, but if you enter ‘the zone’, they fly by. I definitely entered the zone on Friday evening and had no problems driving for a long time. The music was good, the conversation was good, the sights were good. I really enjoy driving the route up to North Bay.
Around New Liskeard I finally relinquished the driving duties to Mike as I was growing tired around 10PM. It wasn’t the greatest driving conditions…it was raining hard off and on. At various points we swore it was snowing out! I must have been enjoying my sleep as Mike told me he had to poke me a few times to wake me up around Cochrane.
Let me tell you, I am thinking of writing a letter to the Ministry of Transportation in regards to their painted lines on HWY 11. We could not see them at night. I don’t know if that was an effect of a long winter, or of the rain, but we could not see the divided lines nor the sidelines. At various points I figured the only thing keeping me on the road was the fact that I heard the hum of the pavement underneath me. When it opened into a passing lane, it was a free-for-all and I just navigated in the center. It was quite horrible. I am wondering if they repaint their lines each year and it just happens that after every winter, this is how they end up, or have they neglected them for a few years.
We rolled into town around 1PM and had a few beer and a sandwich with Mike’s parents. They were gracious enough to allow me to get some slumber for a night so I didn’t ruin the surprise for Mom.
Let me roll back a few days to give you a funny story. Earlier in the week Maureen had let me know that there was a surprise party being planned for Mom. So I talk to Mike and say “Wanna go up to Kap this weekend?”. Of course he is up for it and then he adds “This will be a good weekend to go up as my sister is moving into her new house.” I groaned and realized what I had got myself into. I am kidding, as I am more than willing to help out friends and family move (as long as it works with my schedule, sorry Joe!). I figured “No problem. Wake up early, get a move done, relax for the rest of the day.”
Then I talk to my sister and she says “Oh that’s great that you are coming up! I am moving into Mike’s sister place on Sunday and you can help me move!”
What the heck? How did I manage to rope myself into two moves in one weekend? Oh well, they are family and they need some help. No problems there. Although I worried about my head the next morning on Sunday.
Saturday morning arrives and I am woken up to find out that Dad has dropped by to pay a visit. We chat for a bit and then head out to Sam and Marc-Andre’s apartment to help move. Bad news on the horizon though…it’s raining. It’s dreary, it’s mucky, it’s pretty well a bad day to move. Oh well, haul on a sweatshirt and we are good to go.
We drop by their new house to set up the coffee machine and then head back to their apartment. Luckily they are well set up and have a ton of people helping out so it wasn’t that hard of a move. We made a few trips, had some lunch and I believe we were done the entire move by 2PM. No worries there. The afternoon was spent having a few beers and I escaped for awhile to pick up some gifts for Mom for the night.
Can I also point out that Marc-Andre and his father made an amazing feed of pickerel for us? It was superb. Marc-Andre was pointing out that they were using pastry flour instead of regular flour as it supposedly tasted different on fish. It definitely did and I recommend trying it!
Their new house is a beaut and I wish them well on their unpacking which should take approximately seven months judging by the amount of stuff we moved!
Bruce was gracious enough to bring me back to his house so I could shower and get out to the Royal Canadian Legion. I thought I was running late so I called a cab. I loathe taking cabs, especially in Kapuskasing of all places. But, I didn’t want to be late for the surprise so I rushed over to the Legion. On my way over there I noticed the car was running at Rick and Nat’s place and I groaned because I could have got a ride with them! I showed up to the hall and found out that I was about 30 minutes early so I definitely didn’t need to get a cab over. Oh well, you live you learn. I settled down, had a drink, spoke the Konopelky’s and Labries’ and Rick and Nat (interesting why I don’t ever refer to them as the Achilles…) and chatted with John and Maureen for awhile.
After awhile, the crew from Canadian Tire showed up into the hall and it was quite the party. A little while later we were ordered to hush up as Mom and Pam (the other woman retiring) were being led down the stairs with a blindfold. All you could hear is Mom yelling “Is this when the stripper hops out?!” I was having a good laugh. I hid in the corner so I could time the surprise right. I didn’t know if it would work well. The blindfolds came off, everyone yelled surprise, surprises were had. But then I had to figure out a way to get through the crowd and sneak up on Mom.
The opportunity presented itself as Mom turned her back a little from the crowd so I bounded at the chance. I ran up behind her, gave her a hug and big kiss and said “Happy Retirement!” I moved in front of her and you could tell that she had no idea who had just kissed her. With all the pandemonium around with the surprises and the noise, this whole process took 30 seconds so she is still bewildered at the surprise of it all.
The look on her face was priceless as she clued into the fact that I was there. “RYAN!” she screamed! “What are you doing here?” (always a funny response…). Someone managed to snap a photo of the shock on her face which is awesome. It turned out really well in capturing the feeling.
The rest of the night descended into a good time. I was introduced to the people Mom worked with (quite a few who were actually in my class in high school), Mom made a speech and received a watch (and her 15 year pin!), and the draft beer was flowing nicely. There was even a wedding going on upstairs that I crashed around midnight to get some food from the buffet. I didn’t hang around TOO long but I managed to scarf down a few meatballs and some pasta salad. I met John on the way down who was disappointed I forgot to get him. Let’s just say in my state, I was a man on a mission, and that mission was food.
After the party died out, we wanted to keep going strong so we went out to some karaoke bar on the highway called Jo Jo’s. I have never been to this place and it was a decent pad. I went to the bar to get a few beer and some girl yelled my name and started chatting me up. For the life of me, I have no idea who this girl was but I am glad to see that my legend precedes me when I come into town. 😉
We stayed for a few drinks and then decided to head home for the night where I scarfed down some leftover ribs of Mom’s. She also had the opportunity to open some gifts when we arrived home which she loved.
In the end, the surprise retirement party went off without a hitch (except for me breaking a glass) and Mom really enjoyed it. She really didn’t expect anything other than the supper at Casey’s which they were at before heading to the Legion Hall. Thanks to family and friends who made it out to the event! Can I also point out that in the picture I have here of my family, it looks like Mom’s shirt is half black and white and half watermelons? I did a double take and realized it was the flowers she was holding up!
During the night, I had a midnight visitor in the form of John who came into Maureen’s bedroom where I was sleeping and then he exited and said to Maureen “I felt a toe in the bed.” Woops! I guess we never thought Maureen and John were coming home! I would like to thank John for not proceeding to snuggle up with me during the night.
The next morning, I wasn’t feeling too bad at all which was surprising. I meandered around the house until Mom came home and made some hot dogs and then we headed over to Maureen’s new apartment and unloaded the truck. It took us about five loads but it was an easy move as there wasn’t too much stuff. I did require a nice nap during the afternoon though but we managed to wash my car first. I also got some touch-up paint for the hood of the car but I don’t know if it’s an exact match and it doesn’t look like it covered too much at all. I may have to give it a few more touch-ups.
That evening we headed over to the Konopelky’s for an amazing feast of shrimp, pork roast and veggies. YUM! It was really good and the company is always good as well. Dad and I enjoyed a few much deserved beers from moving Maureen’s apartment in the afternoon.
We retired to the house for the night where Dad and I watched some show called “TV’s Most Outrageous Moments” which was fairly entertaining and I then checked out a slew of comic books (approximately 350) that Maureen’s friend Amy was getting rid of. I scored a large amount that I did not have already and they were mainly X-Men related. Not too shabby. They are in questionable condition however as they were just stored in a box…multiple covers are torn or pages missing, but the majority are readable and that’s what counts. I’ll have to get some bags and boards for them soon enough.
The next morning Mike and I headed on our way out of town and it was a beautiful day for a drive. It’s too bad that we had to go through some construction areas as my car doesn’t even look like it was ever washed. We rolled into Ottawa around 5PM, just in time for rush hour and we stopped into Vero’s place to wait it out and had some Louis’s pizza while we waited.
Vero and I then headed to the park and threw the frisbee around, played a card game called Speed and just hung out. It was a nice end to a great weekend. Lots of changes happening all around….Sam and Marc-Andre moving into a new house, Maureen and John moving into a new apartment, Mom retiring…crazy!
On a related note, we drove by the Kapuskasing Inn a few times and it’s quite the sad sight as it’s destroyed and is laying as a pile of rubble. Mom and Dad managed to snag me a nice commemorative edition of the Northern Times with articles on the Inn though which was nice. I am also arranging to obtain a brick. 😉