Erin's Journals

I’ll call today’s journal the Great Canadian Guilt Trip. And I think I might have been on it the past month or so. Here’s what I mean: I realize, thanks to stats from my journal website that deal with times that it is read and listened to, that a majority of the people who come here every week are visiting from the eastern time zones.
 
That makes sense. That’s where we used to share mornings for so many years. In fact, in the past few days, I’ve been wading through that sea of emails I told you had been forwarded to me from work when my Rogers account officially shut down, and in the responses I’ve sent, I’ve included reminders that I do a journal, as well as post at Twitter, on Facebook and occasionally on Instagram, too. So there’s some reconnecting going on, and I am grateful!
 
But here’s the thing. If it wasn’t for weather, what would Canadians talk about, right? (Of course, right now we have the Leafs, the Raptors, the Jays and TFC, but the weather trumps all, right?) Trust me, I experienced first-hand just how brutal the weather in Southern Ontario has been, right into April, during our visit: from harsh winds that made our landing very tricky, to sideways snow while we were signing out our rental car, and freezing rain and downed lines that made turning in that car again 12 days later equally precarious.
 
All in all, it wasn’t a trip we made for the weather – obviously – and although we’re expecting a few more trips in non-peak weather months, we remind ourselves that we’re travelling for three reasons: family – especially Colin, Phil and Brooke – friends and work. No doubt about it! Imagine when a book tour brings us to Ontario in February of next year; that’s going to be a challenge. But at least it’ll be nasty weather that we expect and mentally prepare for. This time we had some crazy notions of blossoms and springtime – you know, being APRIL and all – and although we did bring our winter gear, it didn’t make that weather any easier to digest.
 
But today it’s supposed to be sunny and 18 in Ottawa. Partly sunny and perhaps 15 in Toronto. And here where we live, near Victoria International Airport, we’re settling in for a gorgeous sunny and 17 today, with sunshine and 21 by Wednesday. The bicycles are coming out, the sunscreen will be in full force and we’re ready to embrace spring with the same enthusiasm that so much of the country is doing today as well.
 
And now, with LESS GUILT! I have been so careful not to post pictures of the blossoms that have come out and dropped since January….
 

 

 
…or the magnolia buds that hang on trees like some fuschia-coloured Christmas ornaments in early April…
 

 
….or the deer that nestled peacefully beneath a cherry blossom tree in the midst of fallen petals this week. 
 

 
Do you know how much it has killed me not to share those with you? But, I get it, your responses (some of them probably not family friendly) might have hurt just a little bit more. I tested the waters via Instagram and got what I deserved. After all, I remember the February pics my auntie, who lives near us now, would post of flowers and how it would make us green with anger – er, I mean envy. 😉 But it’s hard for us not to share the beauty, with the best intentions.
 
Let us all be on this same, green and sun-splashed page from here on in until you start telling me of the colours of autumn. Here’s to spring – let ‘er fling – and thank you for letting me share, at long last, a little of the beauty of this island and spot we call home, in this gorgeous nation of Canada. Tomorrow: it turned out those two suitcases packed a lot of emotions.
 

Well, I think we’re finally back on BC time. This is one big beautiful country, but these time zones are a killer. I’m already thinking that when we fly out to Amsterdam next April for the Tulip Time AMA river cruise with the Coopers, we’ll do our visiting in Ontario – especially Ottawa – first. Just let the body clock adjust a bit so I’m not facedown in the soup for the first day or two!
 
There are a lot of things we have to adjust to in our lives. One of them is time zones, of course; another I’ve discovered is the transition from being “on” every day to just having a quiet, more normal kind of life. For example, I got rid of – passed on – a lot of clothes when we left Toronto. Suits and dresses that I’d bought or had been kindly given to me by event sponsors (like the late Jones New York) and that I knew I’d probably never need again. I mean, dresses? For my new life, it’s a big deal if I put on socks that aren’t of the athletic variety. 
 
So it was a bit of a shock when I was laying out my clothes for this recent trip, including a favourite Lida Baday black and white dress for the Canadian Real Estate Association gathering on the weekend. I have high heels that I knew I wouldn’t be able to wear for more than two minutes, but that would have looked great.
 
Hey – didn’t Oprah get someone to put her shoes on her while she sat? If I could have, I’d have done that. But hobbling to the stage to take the podium wouldn’t have been very pretty, so that was a no go. I opted for low patent pumps that I had to grip with my toes like grim death, because they weren’t laced up like my hiking sneakers or my Skechers! 
 
I got a pedicure on my spa day with Brooke and smooshed the heck out of it within five minutes, as we hobbled to a nearby Starbucks in the snow and rain. Yes, winter footwear and pedicures do not go together. But the worst of the whole footwear fiasco came on Sunday afternoon when I realized partway through my half-hour speech that a brand new pair of stockings had already given up the ghost.
 
Ah yes, stockings. Pantyhose. Whatever you want to call them. I had brought an older pair and two new ones just in case, but the older pair seemed to have shrunk since the last wearing. I swore as I contorted myself like a Cirque du Soleil wannabe while trying to get these black control tops on. It wasn’t that there was more to control; I’ve dropped about 15 pounds since I last put them on. Nope – they just didn’t want to cooperate. So on Sunday morning, I tugged on a new pair instead, slid into my pointy pumps and my dress, and grabbed my clipboard to start the day.
 
How did it end? 
 

 
A good old toe-out blow-out. Considering we leapt in and did that speech along with emcee duties, and the fact that I managed to stay upright in heels for some seven hours and everybody seemed as happy with the day as Rob and I were, I’d say that’s not too high a price to pay. Back into the time capsule for the rest of the stockings in the package until the next time. I have not missed them even one bit!
 
Have a great weekend and we’ll talk to you here on Monday.
 

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.