It begins

It’s soothing, the rumbling of the train beneath me. And yet, I’m still not asleep. I haven’t had a wink since getting up yesterday at 11:30am. Call it nerves, or excitement, or whathaveyou, I just haven’t been able to sleep. Maybe later.

As I write this I am somewhere in Saskatchewan, on the Number 2 train with Via Rail, heading East towards Toronto. I haven’t cried yet, but it’s there; lurking in the background like some creepy old man at the bar who is just waiting for the opportunity to come up and touch you inappropriately.

It still seems so unreal, thinking that I won’t be seeing my three kitties for over a year. (From L-R: Kitler, Stanley, Freckles)

In true fashion that is the state of Canadian rail transit, we were on time at the station, the train was not. It was schedualed to depart Saskatoon at 9:10am. We were at the station about a quarter after 8(we being my mom, her boyfriend, and myself). My aunt and cousin were there already, and soon after we were joined by my grandma and my eldest cousin from that side of the family.

And we waited. I mean, I was warned that the train is rarely if ever on time coming into Saskatoon, but I didn’t imagine that it’d be nearly 2 hours late. I was fine with it, it comes with the territory. My mom, not so much. Plenty of smoke breaks were had.

My good friend and constant dance partner Katie came by as well. She at least got a few hours of sleep after the christmas dance for the U of S Ballroom Dance Club was over(Can you find me?? --->). That picture is of the entire Student Dance Team. We performed a Vienesse Waltz at the dance, and the team is the main reason why i waited until November 28 to leave.  Stay tuned for a video of our performance!  I’ll miss you Katie!! Thanks for all the dances!!!! You better rock the socks off of the people in the Cha Cha routine next term! I wanna see video!

And then, there’s Mark, another really close friend that came to the bus depot to say goodbye. Mark, if you’re reading this, thank you. You have no idea how much you mean to me. I love you to pieces and miss you already. You’ve been there for me so much this past year. I consider myself truly blessed to call you my friend. I only realized after you left that we never got a photo together today.

Oh, ok, now  the tears begin.

Bah, pull yourself together man.

Mom, Dad, Grandmas, Grandpa, all my aunts, uncles and cousins and siblings, I’ll miss you all. Thanks for putting up with my constant nagging about this trip. It’s finally here.

Oh, and as a side note, Champagne, even fake “Baby Canadian Champagne”  is not exactly the best breakfast drink.