Last Time "Off"

Went to the mainland for the last time yesterday. It was a kind of spontaneous trip - for us there has never been much spontaneity in going onto the mainland, as it takes a fair bit of coordination with the kids and the ferry. Chris left for a week long screenwriting expo, and I needed to pick up boxes and packing tape for a weekend packing frenzy. So off I went...

And in part, it shows the beauty of this island life we live. I could watch the ferry coming and going from my kitchen, so I knew it was a few minutes late due to the fog (I can also hear the fog horn warning as it pulls in and out of the cove, one of my favorite sounds). I could call the kids preschool teacher, a friend, and say, I know they aren't due until 12:30, but can I bring them in at 10? I could drive the kids to school on the way to the ferry line up, realize it was full and going to overload, park, and still walk (okay, almost run) the kids up the hill to Artisan Square where the school is, and walk back to my car. Siena could fall while we were climbing the wet from rain trail, and the teacher was immediately present when we arrived to help her get cleaned up and give her hugs and love. I could know the person in the car next to me and have a great conversation while waiting for the (still late) ferry to arrive. I could nurse Sage in the car while I was waiting. We could go up to the passenger deck, post signs of all our "for sale" last minute, please don't make me move this, furniture items (and get calls on them later in the day).

Then we are on the mainland. It is busy and always a bit of a rush (I had to pick up the kids at a certain time). Drop off an entire mini-van load to the goodwill. Find the U-Haul and buy what seemed like an astonishingly expensive amount of boxes and packing supplies - and be helped by a wonderfully kind and perceptive customer (not the staff, needless to say), who loaded all the big boxes into the car for me while Sage had her one and only, "I hate being loaded and unloaded from the car all day" fit. Eat at an A and W Root Beer Stand (something about that always reminds me of college). Go to "The Real Canadian Superstore" and, because we are moving and I made a list and promised not to buy anything that wasn't on it, manage to move through the entire store in under an hour. I took pictures because it is an experience - one which I won't be able to repeat again for who knows how long, if ever. What a nut-job I am, but when life is "easy" again - when shopping is something that we can do everyday with ease, I want to remember how much I appreciated going to the store when it was only once a month. How full my cart would get trying to load up on 7 gallons of milk at a time. The race back to the ferry, hoping against hope that I hadn't cut it too short and would have to spend an hour waiting for it to return. The joy of being one of the last cars to make it onto the ferry, even though it seemed impossible (the ferry marshals can be amazing at wedging one more car onto the back of the ferry deck). And the delight in going upstairs, running into someone (usually many someone's) that we know, chatting and watching the beautiful scenery - Howe Sound, a log boom, the mountains (mist covered today), the approaching site of Bowen, decked in green and yellow splendor for the autumn, the announcement that we are approaching Snug Cove and that foot passengers will be disembarking on the car deck...

It was hard not to cry today, knowing that it would be the last time I would make the trip back onto Bowen for some time. I have, from the very first time we came here, had a physical response to approaching the island - a full body sigh, almost, which releases the pressure and mayhem of the mainland and "normal" life, the speed and the population and the consumerism, and the embracing of the retreat onto island life, replete with friends and community and living. Even as I write this I know how much I will miss that, even as I am gleefully rushing out to a Trader Joe's for a last minute recipe item, or winning an ebay auction and shipping it to myself without thought of tax or customs. I will miss it so much.