So, yesterday was pretty decent. After a night’s sleep, I had some breakfast would. Dear friend, which filled me enough until supper time. Good ol’ Ozempic; that shit’ll kill your appetite. But I had a classic omelette with bacon and toast. Quite delicious. This was followed with a drive around Campbellton to see what;s changed, which turned out to be quite a bit. Once I dropped my friend off, I made my way down to Dalhousie. As is usually my habit, I stopped in to see my brother first. Buried in 1991, I always make a point of stopping there first since, despite the fact I lost my only brother when he died, there’s no planning involved, no scheduled visits; it’s come whenever you can and go when you’re ready. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing my own name on a headstone, though. To explain a bit, my mother had the foresight a few years ago to have the ENTIRE family engraved onto her and my father’s headstone. So despite my brother being buried in the plot right next to where my mother and father will lie, she had his name and mine added onto their stone. No idea why. And she came down with dementia before I could ever get an answer out of her.
Despite the morbid nature of that initial stop, followed by some random elderly lady asking me if I was “there for the burial,” (I didn’t stick around long enough to figure out what she was talking about) the weather was beautiful, the views were amazing and I enjoyed a nice, quiet, nostalgic drive through the area. One of the beauty parts is that I have reached a point in my life where I can make my way through the area I grew up in without encountering anyone from my past. This makes for a much quieter tour. The memories were great and I managed to grab a couple of items that I didn’t find on my way up upon my arrival. It amazes me how dollar stores and pharmacies in a city of 18,000 people seemed to have less items available than a small town of approximately 3,000 people. That’s right; Dalhousie only has about 3,000 people, none of which seemed to know who I am. I stopped in at a little coffee shop in Charlo called The Coffee Mill, which serves the absolute best sugar pie I’ve ever had in my fuckin’ life. Unfortunately, since it was Sunday they were closed.
I followed up by buying a few packages of tortillon cheese, which is a firm, overpriced cheddar that I can only find in New Brunswick or Quebec. I snacked on some last night crusty I crashed. I stopped in on my folks. My mother was out like a light and my dad was rather out of it, but I got to see them. I got to chat with the care home staff about my father, who is slowly joining my mother in secrets. Great! And he’s now on oxygen permanently, which is helping prevent further unnecessary hospital trips. The only uncle I have left in the area invited me to dinner but I already had plans to visit Sensei at 5 o’clock when I was done with my parents, so we rescheduled for Tuesday. Hard to believe how someone with no one to see and nothing to do in the middle of small-town-in-the-middle-of-nowhere New Brunswick has so many plans. So figure.
I stopped in at Sensei’s house at 5 o’clock sharp. I had emailed him prior to flying out and asked when a convenient time would be. He mentioned eager evening, so I asked if 5 or 6 would be best. He never got back to me and in keeping with my obsessive gambit of always being early or else I’m late, I showed up at 5. His wife was unfortunately in the middle of prepping supper for them, which made me feel bad, so I offered to come back in an hour. But they insisted I join them for supper and she was making a seafood spaghetti, so I couldn’t refuse. I mean, getting actual fresh seafood of any kind in Saskatchewan is impossible, so I had to indulge. Supper was amazing and the conversation was good. We shared stories of the past and Sensei even discussed some of his time during his policing years, which he’s never done before. It was fun, nostalgic and touching, with a mild, minty hint of plenty of work to do as far as my karate training goes. He even offered to correct one of the katas I had been having an issue doing properly. We chatted well into the sun going down and I left his home much later than I had planned.
I had initially intended to have a late dinner with another local friend after I was done at Sensei’s, but I left late enough that I just came back to the room and called it a night. I should have known better than to make plans on the same evening as meeting with Sensei. Time melts away when we talk, and trying to make scheduled plans never work out. In fact, he seems to be the only individual with whom I will completely ignore the outside world and even neglect looking and/or answering my phone. It was a good time but I will admit that the time difference between here and Saskatchewan was impulse to tire me out so I passed out like a toddler once I got to the hotel room. One bonus during my liturgy drive around, is seeing the childhood home that I was born in…
It was a little disheartening seeing the state of the place, bearing in mind it was only bout in the early 1970’s. But having lived there until I was about four, vividly memories came back of playing on the deck and some of the shenanigans I got into in the back yard. Unlike most people and for some reason, I have memories as far back as when I was about two years old. Although most “experts” claim that should be possible, but they’re there nonetheless and I had those memories confirmed many years ago. So, those experts can go fuck themselves. I know what I know. Anyhoo, as I’ve wrapped up my first full day in my home town area, I need to prep for another visit to my parents and coffee later tonight with my good fried Ricky. It’s pouring rain here today, which will make it colder than it was yesterday. I had the foresight to purchase a zip up hoodie for $10 at a local Walmart. But I don’t have a fucking rain jacket, so my Lululemon windbreaker will have to do. Yes, I wear Lululemon gear! They have guy stuff, so don’t freakin’ judge! But if you’ll excuse me, time for a nice, hot shower before venturing out into the rain. Let’s get the second day of the shit-show started… ☯️
The Blogging Buddhist 