Back home tomorrow

It's been a couple of days since I've posted but as the title says, we've been busy getting packed up to move back in to our own B&B and I can't wait to lay down this head on my own pillow!

I must tell you about yesterday's trek "back in time" as Arend and I drove up to Westlock (about 3 &1/2 hours from here) so I could revisit the town where my youngest son was born (in 1980).

The sky looked extremely menacing and before we got back to Calgary the snow had begun in earnest, but I am getting ahead of myself here (that's partly because it's been 5 days since I first began this post--I *did* want to finish it, even though we're home now).

As we got closer to Westlock, I kept looking for familiar scenes from my memory but not many seemed to appear as they once were. Progress had led to new buildings and even highways, but the feel of the western culture was the same. Ranches of varying sizes dotted the landscape, workers were busy with new crops and here and there oil derricks pumped the "bubbling crude" from beneath the rich black soil.

I wanted to stop and take pics of every sign post that indicated we were indeed in the right area (grin) and Arend obliged, so that my sons can see that I had truly been there. However, one of the things I most wanted to see was the hospital where Ryan made his debut--it's been converted to a Sobey's store. The elementary school that Derek attended is now a library (in one wing) and and adult learning center in the other end of the building. The exterior looks exactly as I remember though, and as we entered through the front doors, I could almost hear the voices of the children who had been Derek's classmates.

We found the house where we had lived as well. It looks much the same except the colour has changed from yellow to blue. And, as we talked to a few of the residents I discovered that Dr. Watt was stil alive and well, and very active in the medical community. One lady at the library told me that he had been her doctor and her opinion was the same as mine--he was a wonderful family physician and I felt privileged to call him my doctor.

On our way back from Westlock we made a brief stop at the WEM, just so I could say I've experienced that as well. By this time however, my mind was pretty much focused on getting home.

I will update our homecoming in the next post, Blessings, Barb