Chapter 1: Monday

We got into the new just-won Kia Sedona van and headed to Antigonish. We stopped at the Salisbury Tim Horton’s and I got a smoothie, trying it with the Greek yogurt. We connected our phone to the sound system and played our summer mix, then played the other group’s mix CD. Our group, by the way, consisted of me, Stephane, Silvana, Justine, and summer student Tricia. We entered Nova Scotia and went through the Cobequid Toll Booth. We passed the Only Exit to Halifax, which we skipped. We then passed Stellarton, not only the birthplace of Sobeys grocery stores and Big 8 water and pop, but where Mom and I picked up Ella, my second Border Collie, after losing Molly, my first Border Collie, at 6 years of age before my move into Saint John. Within minutes we entered Antigonish. We first stopped at Sobeys to pick up groceries, including our traditional vacation snack Sun Chips and traditional vacation cereal Cap’n Crunch. We went to Hope and Dixie Houses, and then went to find Horizons, formerly L.E.A.P., as someone there had the key to our house, Covenant House. I learned that Yeshua House had closed and was being demolished, and I was saddened. It has to be sad for a loyal L’Arche person when L’Arche houses in the Atlantic Region close and get destroyed. We went to Covenant House, down the road from the former L’Arche House and down the road from the Sobeys. We set up and got settled. Tonight we wanted to have a campfire and noticed we did not have a lighter or matches, so we walked back to Sobeys and picked up a lighter. Tonight we had a campfire with a guitar and songs and roasted marshmallows.

Chapter 2: Tuesday

Today we drove to a close beach to Antigonish and some swam while I took pictures with my Blackberry and played the guitar. We also picnicked. We went back to Covenant House and walked to a nearby dairy bar and got ice cream. Then we walked back, and tonight we went to a nearby pub to have a drink in hopes that live music would be playing, but none was, so after my Perrier I went onstage and sang Danny Boy, Cockles and Mussels, and When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.

Chapter 3: Wednesday

Today we took a day trip to Halifax. First we went to Mic Mac Mall and we shopped. At HMV I bought Bruce Almighty/Evan Almighty collection on DVD and the Simon & Garfunkel Greatest Hits CD. We headed to Downtown Halifax and got tickets for the Harbour Hopper. There I saw a book I really wanted called the Harbour Hopper’s Best Halifax Stories. Then we took a walk, caught some of the Busker Festival, walked some more, and then headed back in time to board the Harbour Hopper. Within minutes it took off, and the narrated tour commenced. The narrator got us to go “Ribbit-Ribbit” twice on this tour. We went up a hill, through the Citadel, past the Public Gardens, down Spring Garden Road (I saw the place HMV used to be and I also find it sad when an HMV I had shopped in and listened to top 40 music in since grade 11 closes), back to the waterfront… and went into the water. The narrator talked about history I already knew about from school and the Heritage Minutes videos from TV. Then after going past ships that were there and then past the waterfront, and then emerged from the water. Then we got off the Harbour Hopper. Then we went to the ferry terminal and took the ferry to Dartmouth… and took the ferry back… and went to Cows Ice Cream and had our favorite ice creams in waffle cones there. Then we went to the Old Triangle where the Alexander Keith’s commercials with the angry guy was set and had supper there. I had fish and chips with a Perrier. Then we headed home.

Chapter 4: Thursday

Today Silvana and I went to Coles Antigonish Mall to see if I could find the book, which I did, and buy it, which I did, and to see if I could find a souvenir for Debbie who always felt left out if I mentioned vacation. We headed back… and went to a local interest store and I bought a book for Debbie to enjoy and to read to Kristina. We also bought a bottle of blueberry syrup and a CD for Covenant House as a thank-you for letting us stay there. Then we went to Hope/Dixie Houses for a multi-community barbecue and I played the guitar. Then we went to Hearts and Hands and got a tour and then we went to Horizons and we got a tour, and there I played the piano. I played while Stephane and Silvana went back to Hearts and Hands and bought a souvenir for Stephane and one for Silvana: artwork by Tom Landry like we have in our kitchen at McKim House. Then we headed home, had supper, and then some of us got a tour of St. F. X. University where Mom, Dad, and Jennifer, all went to university, and which had the basketball teams I loved to watch play. There I saw the big football field, the hockey rink, and the basketball court where the varsity teams I watch plays and practices. I went home and enjoyed my book. Then Stephane, Silvana and I walked to Sobeys and we got snacks for the drive home: I got Sun Chips and Stephane got Lay’s Old Fashioned BBQ chips.

Chapter 5: Friday

Today we visited an old friend of Jocelyn’s and our community’s in a nursing home named Carroll. Then we walked home, packed up, got into the car, fuelled up, and headed home, passing Stellarton and the Only Exit to Halifax along the way… and stopping at Holly’s in Hampton, where I got chicken strips and fries and a strawberry milkshake. Then we headed home! So ends Vacation 2014.

Chapter 1: Grade 1

I had just been adopted by the McGrath family, my first family and my first time living in a house with dogs, cats, and a piano, and a family that traveled frequently.

We went to the bus stop, which was around the corner from the house, and halfway between the house and Sandy McWilliams’ house. We walked together, Nicky right behind me, and my lunchbox in hand. Later a school bus pulled up, and Mack, my bus driver, was friendly and funny. I boarded the bus, which made a few stops and minutes later finally reached Hillsborough School. When I got into the school, I had never seen so many pianos in a building. I met a teacher’s assistant who would help me named Mr. Flynn. I then met my Grade 1 teacher and the students, some of which, I must admit, were not so friendly, but some were. My grade 1 room and another room, also a grade 1, were connected to each other, and the adjacent room had a piano, which was a whole step flat and twangy. We started lessons in math, science, social studies, and Phys. Ed. At the end of the day, we gathered in the adjacent room and the room’s Grade 1 teacher, Mrs. Weldon, got us to sing songs like a choir, the teacher accompanying on us on piano. We started with O Canada, and moved on to other kids’ nursery rhyme songs.

The days that followed were alike. When we finally had music class, I met the music teacher, Mrs. Schiller, the Mrs. Schiller who was known for directing the famous Hillsborough Choir, which Jennifer and Melody were singing in, which had a record of famous songs. The music room had a piano, and we sang some songs together, and one of them we sang frequently: the nursery rhyme Fish And Chips And Vinegar. She had a record we listened to called The Beady Glass Eye. My speech pathologist Dr. Rubell helped me not only at his office, but also in the school.

There was a nerve-racking time when the fire alarm went off after my gym class, and they said I pulled the alarm, when I didn’t. They must have thought my hands hit the wall running from one side of the gym to the other, and when I turned around, my index finger accidentally pulled the red pull station!

One day I went to school…and came home to a surprise: We had just gotten a brand new piano on the middle floor: a brand new Tadashi with 3 pedals, that looked like the piano in the school music room, except ours was mahogany and the music room piano was black, and a Yamaha with 2 pedals. We now had 2 pianos: the brand new Tadashi on the middle floor, and the Mason & Risch on the bottom floor.

Celebrations, of course, came, and one of them was Thanksgiving, another was Hallowe’en, and another was Christmas, my first Christmas with the McGrath family, and the Grade 1 teacher and our Music teacher all got us to sing some beautiful Christmas carols. Christmas, of course, came, and we all got some cool gifts, and one of my gifts I got for several Christmases: a small jigsaw puzzle with a picture of a car. Then came Easter.

I should mention this detail that I did not mention in the Adoption Story, which I realize now I should have. In the Adoption Story, like the Frozen song lyrics go, I Let it go, Let it go. From my adoption day to half of Grade 1, I used to say silly things that I wonder now if come with autism. I used to say things like “It’s a Kraft Dinner”, “It’s a Garbage Bag”, “It’s a Funny/Happy Face”, and other silly things that drove the others crazy at the time, but are fun to look back on and I think about whenever I pull up pictures of the Blessed Hillsborough Years, like me and Mom learning shapes, me sitting next to Nicky, us camping, us traveling, me playing the ukulele, me waiting for Mack, me with the dogs, the Volvo 240 Wagon that picked me up on my adoption day, and me going to my mini toy kitchen in the attic. Some of the schoolmates were friends and neighbors from our neighbor. I must mention that sometimes Dad and I would take our red Datsun King Cab truck to the dump and on the way we would sing High Hopes, I Had a Dog, and Swingin’ on a Star. On the truck’s American Graffiti-style radio with no tape player we would listen to CBC and one of its programs back then was called Swingin’ on a Star. A famous Dad phrase was: “Thank you, thank you, thank you…so much!” The Volvo 240 wagon also had an American Graffiti-style radio with no tape player. I also had fears: Sometimes Mom would make frozen orange juice, using the blender to mix the water with the orange juice, and it made a loud noise which frightened me. Whenever we were in a hotel and in a pool, there were water jets underwater, which made a tickling feel when it hit the skin, and I was scared of that. The vacuum cleaner’s carpet attachment made a loud squealing sound and I was scared of that. My Dad’s office had photocopiers and the moving light reminded me of space shows my foster brothers used to watch that were scary, and that frightened me, but I overcame this and all the above fears soon.

The spring that followed I had an ordeal: I got a new bike and had I had training wheels, this would have not happened. I was driving my bike around the house, pretending my bike was the Volvo, which for a time I saw myself driving myself, and the barn was the Co-Op where we went grocery shopping, and apparently I was driving and I suddenly fell over, breaking my collar bone, which was nerve-racking, because I went to the hospital, and I was to get x-rays, and little did I know that x-ray moved and made noises, and I was afraid.

The summer that followed was wonderful. We took our van, which we got before Grade 1: a brown Ford Econoline van, on trips to cities and campsites. First we went to Halifax and stayed at the Holiday Inn Select hotel, and I enjoyed the pool. During the drive for this trip we listened to James Taylor, Paul Simon, and the soundtrack to The Big Chill. For camping trips we went to Fundy Park and Cabot Park in P.E.I. in our van all of us, and all 3 of our dogs (When I started Grade 2, we had 2 dogs: a Lassie sable mongrel named Nicky and a dark red Golden Retriever named Katie. Later that year we got a Golden Retriever puppy named Simon on one of our Sunday road trips.) During the camping trips we listened to Dirty Dancing, Lionel Richie and The Chieftains. There was a time we drove to Boston to stay at a hotel with a pool and glass elevator through which you can see a piano, to enjoy things like subways, shopping, and lots of fun things. We also had Barbecues and roasted marshmallows in the backyard.

.... Coming soon: Grade 2!

An Epic and Fanci-ful Vacation

Remembering My School Years

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