Erin's Journals

Welcome. I promised you the story of a real surprise that happened during this trip. It was Sunday. I was pleased to be hosting the annual leadership summit for the Canadian Real Estate Association, held in Ottawa at the Westin Hotel downtown. It’s a gathering that, spread over a few days, helps realtors form policies and band together to take on challenges that face them from government, competition and the ever-changing world of the 21st century.
 
As someone who has used the services and talents of realtors in my lifetime, I learned a lot and was up for a great day of inspiration. Little did Rob and I know that the whole event would take a turn that would challenge us to rise to the occasion!
 
First hints that there might be a fly in the ointment came on Saturday when we were hearing from CBC personality, podcast host, best-selling author and ad guru Terry O’Reilly that he was having trouble getting out of Toronto’s ice-bound Pearson airport. He did arrive that evening but we wondered about Sunday’s other headliner.
 
Michele Romanow of TV’s Dragon’s Den has been part of CREA’s Real Time: Let’s Talk program, along with Terry (fellow speaker) and me (emcee). You may recall last year we took our road show to realtors in Victoria, Calgary and Kitchener. I loved it and there’s talk of more cities being visited later this year, so the program has been popular!
 
Sunday morning rolled around and Michele was still stuck in Toronto. I hosted the morning’s activities, moderating one panel and just keeping things moving along, but something was definitely in the back of my mind: as the clock ticked down to Michele’s appearance after lunch, Rob and I had suggested to CREA’s organizers that we might have a solution: my “Transformations” speech, given in one incarnation to Rogers broadcasters in Toronto last spring and being revised to deliver to the BC Association of Broadcasters next month in Kelowna.
 
After CREA had approved the speech and Rob had gone over the tech requirements needed to get over 80 slides and a few video clips to the ballroom’s five huge screens while I spoke, we all waited through the morning to learn whether Ms Romanow’s flight had made it to Ottawa. 
 
Soon it was time to break for lunch. I tore up to our hotel room and went over the script and presentation with Rob, who had uploaded it to his iPad for me to work from and was running the audio visual element of the half-hour speech on his laptop. We felt confident that we could deliver our “Transformations” message – from the changes I experienced in my radio career to the biggest one of all, from mother to bereaved mom, to writer and (hopefully) living proof that one can survive and thrive after the worst possible tragedy – to this group of hundreds of realtors and executives from across the country.
 
I was excited to deliver this speech, as it marks a new beginning for us. Rob and I are about to embark on a new chapter in our lives: keynote speaking as part of the publication of the book Mourning Has Broken next February. Our literary agent has introduced us to people who are hopefully going to make that happen and we had hoped that this life would bring just exactly these challenges and opportunities. To be able to deliver this speech as a step into that new future, was a great gift to us.
 
I used bandaids on my neck and hairline to tape the Madonna-style headphone mic into place so that I could walk the stage, iPad in hand, moving back and forth, relating with ease to this large crowd with no worries about my microphone shifting or falling off (it didn’t). 
 

 
The fact that our volunteering to speak helped out the organizers of a group that I really admire and whose company I enjoy was the best part of the whole adventure.
 
I haven’t yet talked to the CREA folks, except for the comments I got from them in the elevators afterward, but it felt like the presentation was well received; at least, my friend and a man whom I greatly admire, Terry O’Reilly, was truly kind in his feedback. Rob and I were heartened to hear that we seemed to have hit the right note. I do want to lean more towards inspiring and funny than into the tragedy of it all. What would be the good in just telling a sad story without having the message of moving forward into hope and happiness? Who needs that, right? It’s just what we planned for the book, too.
 
All in all, it was an incredible day. A lot of things had to happen for us to get that opportunity and I’m so sorry that the audience didn’t get to hear the address I’ve enjoyed now three times from Michele. But the weather that kept Michele from getting to Ottawa also prevented Rob from heading off towards Quebec to visit his brother that day as planned! This isn’t a speech I could do without him and the visual elements; had he gone, it wouldn’t have happened. 
 
I felt Lauren’s hand on our shoulders the whole time and know she was urging us onwards. I do wish that in all of the rush and exhaustion that followed, I’d paused to take a picture of the license plate of a vehicle we noticed on the way to ours: it said X DEE X. Dee is one of the nicknames we had for Lauren, more specifically “Little Dee.” 
 
There you go: she sent us love, three dimes and a whole lot of strength that day, that weekend and that trip, as we all move forward into this new life with longer, stronger strides every day. Come on back here tomorrow and we’ll step into the weekend together. Now with more holes. I’ll explain….
 

Well, that certainly did not go as expected. Oh, I’m not talking about our sweet family time plus visits and business in Toronto, London and Ottawa (although there was something amazingly unexpected that happened work-wise on Sunday that I’ll fill you in on here tomorrow). I’m referring to our travels on Monday evening.
 

 
Yesterday’s Rick Mercer memories journal was all set to go just in case and we were glad of that, as Monday we were on the edge of our seats wondering whether we were going to get out of the city-sized ice arena also known as our National Capital Region. As we pondered the seemingly unlikely concept of Tulip Festival starting there just three weeks this Friday, a thick coating of ice made travel – and even just walking – treacherous. So we stayed inside at Phil and Brooke’s and awaited news from WestJet about whether our 6:50 pm flight to Calgary (and then Victoria) was going to be happening at all.
 
We watched online and got alerts saying that a one-hour delay became a two-hour delay. No worries. We weren’t those hapless travelers who find themselves on a shuttle to the airport with no firm flight news, because the resort needs to free up rooms and really doesn’t care what happens to you after your time there is up. No, we were so lucky: the coffee was plentiful and we l0oked at any delays as a chance to spend just a bit more time with Phil, Brooke and, of course, Colin. Not having to get up for work (or hockey) obligations brought the potential panic levels way, way down. 
 
But then, something very unusual happened. 
 
At about 3 pm Rob called WestJet. Because their website was showing a two-hour delay, that meant we’d miss our connecting flight to Victoria, the last of the day. Knowing that there had been a flight to Calgary cancelled earlier in the day, we offered to fly home the next day (Tuesday) and let someone else have our seats, if need be. That’s when the friendly (but probably frazzled) person on the phone told us that rather than a two-hour delay, there had been an update: our flight was now just five minutes behind in expected departure! 
 
Wait, what?!? A quick check online proved that yes, indeed, the departure had changed! She explained that the problems probably emanated with crew numbers and when WestJet fixed that (by switching planes) we were on time! We left so quickly there was no time for tears – a big old blessing for us all. And after Rob chipped the ice off the SUV, our travels began to come to an end.
 
Despite numerous airport area road closures due to downed power lines and slow traffic because of traffic lights that were out, we still made it in plenty of time to drop off the car we’d rented in Toronto 12 days earlier and get to the airport in the pouring rain. We got a call yesterday from the Routes rental car folks at head office in Toronto who didn’t know we’d returned their Jeep because the Ottawa branch had no power, phones or computers, so that was a wrinkle. But other than that, we had just one more tiny hurdle. 
 
Because of that plane swap I mentioned, WestJet had no inflight iPads or live TV, so Rob, who thought that for once he’d be in the air at the exact time of a hockey game he wanted to watch, couldn’t see what happened after the Leafs scored on Boston in the first period of game three. D’oh! But the news was good when we landed in Calgary: the Leafs had won.
 
After two hours at YYC, we left there at midnight, only to get to Victoria to learn that there were but three cabs at the airport at 1 am and we weren’t getting one. But eventually we did make it home to the flannel sheets of our king-sized bed. And after a 22-hour travel day, we slept. And slept.
 
And speaking of sweet dreams, I’ve a pretty amazing story for you in tomorrow’s journal that could be luck or just a lot of work paying off. You decide!
 

Welcome in! If you’re reading this, we’re home, back in our cozy bed in North Saanich, just up the highway from Victoria and shouting distance from the International Airport. We arrived in late last night, did a bit of recording and then headed to bed. 
 
Today, we’ll be off to dog sitter Francine’s to collect Miss Molly. Undoubtedly, she’ll follow us around like a shadow today, tomorrow and perhaps Thursday, too, until she comes to the realization that we’re not leaving her. And we don’t plan to do so again for a good long time; our next trip (to Kelowna for a speaking engagement next month) will include Molly for sure! We like the car trips and so does she. Although we do wish that, like Washington State’s ferry, we could bring her out of the car and up to the passenger deck with us on BC Ferries!
 
We’re going to take a trip together now of a different kind: one back in time to a recording I found last week when I was looking for a picture of Rick Mercer. As you may have seen on Facebook, the only one I could find was me holding up his RMR Chapman’s blueberry ice cream (raising money for Spread the Net) but I was able to locate this “best of” tape of Rick, Mike and me talking one morning. He had just signed up for another three years (so it was 2015 when we talked) and I think you’ll enjoy the conversation. 
 
If you haven’t sampled my audio journal yet, this would be a great opportunity, since that’s where you can hear the interview with Rick. Just click on the icon at the top of this journal. Since we won’t have any new Rick Mercer Reports, it might just fill a gap for you on a Tuesday. 
 
Oh, and I will tell you that Rick was in touch last Tuesday thanking me for the mentions and you for your kindness. We may even be collaborating on one of his projects down the road! I can’t imagine how cool that would be. Take care.
 

Where did it go? Almost two weeks have flown by and here we are, getting set to turn in our rental car here in Ottawa and head home. It’s not a direct flight to Victoria (there isn’t one) but WestJet will have us connecting in Calgary this evening before we hopefully land just before midnight at YYJ. 
 
It will be hard saying goodbye after another full, wonderful day with our little Colin. We know we’re coming back in November for two events that I’m hosting, but that seems a long time away. The Coopers already have us booked into their place for another visit! It is several months, but they’re summer months. The best months. The fastest months. And one day we hope a little boy will make his way west for a few of them – or at least we can dream!
 
Brooke and I had the best day on Friday spent in a spa doing “girl” things. Things I would love to do with Lauren when she had the time, which was rare once she started working. How lucky I was that Brooke was able to carve out a few hours between her job and her other full-time occupation of caring for Colin and Phil.
 
And COLIN! Last time we saw him in person he was bright-eyed and busy with his painting and art work, but not talking much at all. This time, we were keeping up full conversations with him. Two years ago, from the hotel room downtown where the boys were holed up awaiting house repairs after a flood, we had Colin doing a raspberry to the Boston Bruins during their playoffs with the Leafs. Now he can practically trash talk them as well as we can!
 
Oh, goodness, this trip has been amazing. To be able to begin it with a party for Rob at which some of the guests were a surprise (like Mike and Debbie and our promo goddess Jackie Gilgannon) and wrap it up with yesterday’s big Canadian Real Estate Association summit at the Westin Ottawa has been fulfilling on so many levels. The best parts, of course, have been time with close friends and family.
 
It all comes down to finding the things that make your heart sing – the reasons to keep looking up instead of (despite my searches for dimes) just concentrating on the few feet of road ahead. I am reminded of something I read on a picture I saw of Elvis Presley at the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas a while back and it had to do with the three things you need in order to be happy:
 
Someone to love,
Something to do,
Something to look forward to.
 
Check, check and check.
 
I’ll be back with you here tomorrow with a journal sure to take us all down memory lane.
 

Friday already! Monday, we’ll be on a plane heading home, but not before lots more Coco time (he’s home from school today) and a special national event being held here in Ottawa that I’m hosting for the Canadian Real Estate Association on Sunday. What a wonderful collaboration this has been over the past year, me and CREA, and I can only hope that the rest of this year, and maybe even years to come, bring more of these sorts of partnerships. 
 
Speaking of partnerships, I am grateful to you who wrote to me yesterday about Mike and me, and specifically asked about Debbie Cooper. Debbie, as you know, was diagnosed with colon cancer about six years ago. When you see her, you would never, ever know the battle she’s waging; she’s positive, beautiful, positively beautiful and just – as she and Mike would say – “rockin’.” And it’s the truth. She juices, she takes incredible care of herself and she and Mike are a force of nature in the face of this disease.
 
They’re in great hands and they want to thank you for your prayers and your kindness, always. And yes, Debbie is going to be on that river cruise Mike and I are hosting next April. As a matter of fact, I have a link here to the webinar – Mike and I chat, along with your hosts Neil Dudley and from New Wave Travel, our good friend Gerry Koolhof. Even if you’re not interested or can’t join us, please do give it a listen this weekend. You’ll enjoy the ride! Here’s the link.
 
So, that’s your update on Debbie. We so love being together. She and I had a wonderful reiki and numerology session in Lakefield (near their home) and then dinner at a lovely little French bistro in town called Cassis. We came home, got in our jammie-jams and just sat in front of a fire sipping tea and talking about our angels, our husbands and the strength you find when you need it – when you have no other choice.
 
As for our boys? They were off before sunrise Tuesday to Casino Rama to play for the day, have a great dinner and sleep over at the hotel. They returned home Wednesday morning hoarse from laughing and talking and it did them both a world of good. Rob needs that fun in his life (the numerologist even said so LOL) and he even came out ahead – as did Mike. Yes, you could say they both did, in more ways than one.
 
Today I get to spend some quality time here in Ottawa with Brooke, the young woman who has so selflessly devoted her life to our boys and is doing a wonderful job with Phil in teaching Colin his pleases, thank yous, letters, numbers and so much more. She has slid into a role that would be a challenge to anyone, and she’s doing just beautifully – even with every germ and sickness that Colin has brought home from school this year! Goodness, we’ll just hope to stay healthy before this Sunday’s CREA event! 
 
By the way, I know from your notes and FB posts that you may be expecting pictures of Coco and I am not able to promise any. All parents have their rules for social media and their children, and we are going to play by the ones that are laid out for us. Thank you for understanding!
 
In the meantime, take it easy this weekend and please do feel free to join us for the Tulip Time webinar you found linked above. We’ll be talking to you here next week and I’m so glad you’ve continued to let us keep you company along the way.