My trip home to Nova Scotia

Msbean22 · October 2013

...was about a month ago. Yeah I'm a little late

Just Evie and I went, and we flew. I didn't buy a seat for her. She was great flying from Columbus to Philly, just a little restless towards the end. The flight was pretty empty, so the attendants let us sit in the back and I even got an extra seat for her. Same deal from Philly to Halifax. The flight back, though? Just...wow. She screamed, literally screamed from Halifax to Philadelphia. It was a nightmare. She slept on the second flight home, however. 3/4 ain't too bad, I guess!

One of the best parts of the trip was that my family, with the exception of my aunts and grandparents, thought I was coming home a day later than I actually was. We devised a scheme to surprise my parents by getting them to come to my grandparents house. When Evie and I walked around the corner I literally thought I had given my mother a heart attack; she almost fell over! If we're FB buds, I have the video shared on my wall if you're interested - it's a hoot.

Evie was a complete doll for everyone she met, let everyone hold her and play with her. She would talk and sing to everyone, and was generally charming. The kid has no fear of strangers, that's for sure.

So that's the good stuff, mainly. But there was some bad.

Some of you might remember me posting back in February about my cousin's boat that went down and was lost (no survivors.) Before being home, I guess I thought I had some resolution and was okay. That changed pretty quickly. It was like everyone's home I went into had a shrine (pictures, memory trinkets, newspaper articles) set up to one of the boys. It was absolutely heartbreaking. When I saw Katlin's mother (she and my uncle had divorced a few years ago) I couldn't stop wondering how she did it...how she got up each day and lived a normal life after losing him. And Falon, Katlins sister, is pregnant. She found out about a month after everything happened. She was told she could never have children, due to medical issues when she was younger. I'm not religious, but if I were ever to believe in a miracle, this little baby of hers is surely it. And they just found out that it's going to be a boy. She and I spent a lot of time together, which was nice. She gave me the okay to post a picture of her nursery here, which will be at the bottom. So, that aspect of my time at home was pretty tough.

The other issue was my mom. I was suddenly extremely glad we do not live close by after the first few days. In retrospect now, the arguments we had were petty, but they really bothered me at the time. I'm not going to write it all out, because it's time consuming and complicated. Most of it involved food, and my mother acting extremely childish. I've never seen that side of her. One incident involved her giving Evie a spatula coated in frosting. Seriously? I let it go, but I said absolutely no more of that for her. The next day I walk into the kitchen and mom is feeding Evie frosting right off the damn cake. Come on, man. Really? By the end, I realized that my mother was upset that Evie didn't "take" to her as much as she was expecting, and to her, food=love. I guess some how she thought that if Evie would associate her with food, she would love her more? It was frustrating. There was yelling.

On the other hand, Evie absolutely ADORED my father. She was totally a Grampie's girl the whole time. That was happymaking, at least. I think my mother was jealous of this.

Overall, it was nice. I loved the ten days off of work and the time I got to spend with my little bit. I wish I could get back more often. Onto pictures!

Evie and Grampie eating cod cheeks and tongues:

Playing with my cousins youngest in the sand at the lake

My parents a few minutes after the calmed down from their surprise (they had been busy literally steam cleaning the house in preparation and therefore not dressed for pictures)

Moments away from her first taste of poutine!

Penguins!

Evie and Falon

This is a picture of Fal's crib, it has a quilt and pillow made out of one of Katlin's shirts.

I have pictures of her doing actual Nova Scotia things, like playing in the sand by the ocean, interactions with fish, but they were all taken on my parents phones and cameras and they're a little unsure on how to post them to FB, unfortunately. Anyway, that's all!

jodegaard · October 2013

Thanks for sharing! I'm sorry about the tough parts of your trip, especially the memories of those lost at sea.

Evie is stinkin' adorable!!!!

MoFree · October 2013

Sounds like a very memorable, emotional trip. I love reading about Falon's miracle pregnancy. I generally think God has nothing to do with fertility but I think this example is an exception.

Want a personalized experience?

My trip home to Nova Scotia

Re: My trip home to Nova Scotia

Choose Another Board

Search Boards