Canada Doesn't Have the Internet

At least that would be the easiest excuse for why I haven't been blogging for the last little while. So please accept my apologies and I'll move on to more interesting things.

You know, I always think that I don't have money for a trip to Canada. Last year when I was a student, I planned a trip to Toronto to spend time with Spartacus and her brother Dave (it's such a generic name that I don't worry about using it). But I canceled last minute because I was worried about spending that much money. It turns out that at that time, it was the right decision to make. But since then, I've gotten a job that offers vacation time and pays well.

Tuesday night, I found out that my grandma died and suddenly I had enough money and motivation to make the trip. The Boy and I were on a plane Wednesday morning. Between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, there's not much time to make travel arrangements, and it was as I was walking out the door that Dave called me back and let me know that he and Spartacus could pick me up from the airport (otherwise we were just going to fly to Toronto and figure it out from there).

And so The Boy and I got a sort of mini vacation mixed in with a funeral. I'll tell you something, being back in Canada in some ways makes me regret that I ever left. Dave and Spart picked us up at the airport and took us out to eat and do a little shopping. At the mall (which, I must say, was a nicer mall than any I've seen in the States) I saw stores that I haven't seen for years. It's opportunities like this that I must seize in order to get clothing that no one else back home has. The cultural diversity was nice to see too (in Toronto---once we got up to Timmins, the only cultural diversity you get is English, French, and Native American).

The evening with Spart and Dave was great, and I can't help but think it must have made my grandma more than a little bit happy. It's never been a big secret that our families have always thought that Dave and I make a good match and that my grandparents especially have always thought that Spart and The Boy make a good match. I'm certain that my grandma was thrilled that her death brought about this double date. Special thanks go out to the two of them, by the way, because Spart took that evening and the next morning off of work so that she could look after us (The Boy stayed the night at her parents' house and I stayed at her apartment) and Dave took the evening off of law schooling during a very busy time of year to spend time with us.

There's so much about this trip that I can say, and I think that's been one factor in my not blogging for so long---trying to figure out what to say without going on forever. In the next few days, I'll have a little more to say perhaps about the funeral and my grandma, but for now, I'll just focus on the fact that it's surprising how quickly you can throw together a trip to Canada.

On our way back through Toronto (right now I'm at a hotel waiting for my flight home to SLC) we met up with Dave again---Spartacus was busy with work---and I let him know that I took my vacation to Canada and now it is his turn to come and visit me in Utah. We'll see if he lets me get away with using two evenings as "my turn" or if he makes me take a real Toronto vacation before he makes his way to Utah.

And I might also mention that though I am impressed with Canada and though I've recognized all those things that I've been missing for so many years, I don't think that Canada is better than the USA or that the USA is better than Canada. If I moved to Canada, there would be so many things about the USA that I would miss as well. And perhaps sometime soon I'll make a list for you of exactly what I miss about Canada and exactly what I would miss about Utah.