On the elephant in the room, Jasper and my first weeks back at work

Margo

I started this blog entry with the last two items in mind. However, I quickly realized that I have to acknowledge the elephant in room: my aunt Margo has died.

She guided me into bicycle touring and by doing so opened up a new world for me. I would be a poorer person without her assistance in taking flight. I had been optimistic that she would be around to suggest replacement gear once I was fit enough to ride, but alas cancer had other plans for her. As it was, I gather that she hung on to life by her fingernails to meet her newest grandson, before letting go.

I had desperately wanted to go out to Vancouver to see her one last time, however by the time I might have been fit to travel, she was too far gone to receive me. There will be a celebration of her life in October.

I had been thinking about what to wear, namely should I wear my kilt, when a conversation at work gave me an insight. I was discussing her death with colleagues when I remembered a recounted a story she had told about her wedding.

To set the context, this was in summer of 1981, a few months after her eldest sister had died prematurely. Her Father was boasting to his friends about how he would be giving away two brides that summer as a niece had asked him to stand in for her deceased father. Margo, being a feminist and something of a rebel, disliked the notion of being "given away". However, she loved her Father all the same and as he had just lost a daughter, she made a deal with him (and mostly herself), by saying to him something like: "If you are going to give me away, you will have to wear your kilt along with the Bonnie Prince Charlie jacket." Her Father hadn't been thinking about doing so, but was quite happy to oblige her request.

So I'll be wearing my kilt.

Jasper

I have been following the news about the wildfire in Jasper. I am afraid that my rationale is based on the fact that I spent many a happy hour there, all of which involved the Canadian. I was relieved when a map of the affected areas was published here on the CBC. I was happy that the damage didn't seem to be as bad as some of the news reports had implied. One of the things I did see was that the new HI Hostel had been destroyed, something that this article confirmed. I had stayed there in 2019. At that point, it was so new that work was still being done! I thinking that it needed to age before it became a first rate hostel. Now the building never will.

My first weeks back at work

I have started my third week back at work. I have settled almost too easier into the routine. I will have to figure out if I will ask my doctor later this week to change to more hours.

 

Part of my routine is to have lunch at the mall across from work after my half day was over. Twice now I have been spotted by patrons who missed my presence. Today, it was an older lady who is something of a fixture in non-fiction. I was pleased when she told me that I was looking much better than when we had last met about six months ago. She also revealed that the staff had been very concerned about my health. I had known they were concerned but not the extent that a patron would be so empathic about it. I was touched more than I could express.

Of course, I am still a "librarian". So someone else at the mall asked me where I had I purchased my crutches. She was also an older lady and was walking with two hiking poles. She was hoping to get one crutch in that style. I told where I had bought them, but qualified it by saying that they were handed, so I didn't know if she might buy only one. In hindsight, I should have told her that the style of crutch is known in the trade as "Canadian crutches". Mind you, I wasn't on duty and unlike registered nurses, there is such a thing as an off-duty librarian! ;-)