End Of An Era

I miss my step-mother. She died in October, 2013 of cancer. It makes me think back to when I visited her and my then-alive father in Enderby, BC.

It was my first plane ride and I was nervous, having watched a few episodes of Mayday on television. My room mate drove me to the airport and I went through the security. We waved good-bye as I went it. Then I waited for my plane.

Luck must have been with me that day because I found myself sitting beside an ex-pilot who told me what exactly was happening as the plane took off. I liked this man, he and his wife were on their way to India to look after an orphanage that they do some volunteer work for.

I was interested in the back of the the seat in front of me which had a little picture of an airplane and showed where we were in the sky route to BC. One thing puzzled me about it, though, and that was, is the front of the plane on the picture where we were or the back. Because the front could show Manitoba and the back Ontario but it passed the time. I couldn't read.

There was no turbulence or anything to worry me so I actually quite enjoyed my first flight. Except the end of it. We landed in Calgary and I phoned my sister who lived there at that time. When I boarded the plane to Kelowna, which takes an hour, I was sitting right beside a muscle guy.

You've all heard people say that fat people should buy two tickets. Well, I found out that muscle guys are much worse, they are solid and I had to lean over all the way to Kelowna. I'm just lucky I didn't have to sit next to him all the way to Ontario.

But now, as I think of that, I realize I'll never have another reason to go to Enderby. My real mother, Peggy died of cancer in 2000, my father in 2010 and now my step-mom. For me, it's the end of an era.