Departures

11 hours to go. Michelle has been gone for 8 hours already. I caught a bit of the last sunset in Banff, while giving a tour of the apartment to two guys (Dan and Bill) I met at the hostel. They’re the 7th group through since yesterday, with the ad having been on Tuesday.

Yesterday was my last day in Banff, really. It was a great day. It was Michelle’s last day here with me, but she’ll be back on Monday or Tuesday or so, it was her birthday, it was the Rimrock staff Christmas party.
The day started with a bit of sleeping in. It’s something that I’ll miss, the laziness of actually sleeping in comfortably next to a person you care about. Drifting halfway between sleep and awake. Eventually, I remembered – Birthday! And I’ve put together a treasure hunt of sorts. Not a big space to hide things in, but I managed all four elements – fire (candy by the stove), air (incense by the window), water (bathbombs in the shower) and earth (a jade bear carving in the shoes in the closet).
Then a pancake breakfast (I’m getting better at making the, fluffy and almost as big as the pan) with fruit and yogurt and maple syrup and all sorts of goodness.
Michelle went to meet Mayumi for 11:30, and her old roommates Keri and Joleen showed up while she was away. They’re a whole lot of fun, regularly joking with each other… Michelle got back with a pi�ata and lots of candy, and Mayumi in tow. A blur of activity followed: Amy dropped by with birthday wishes and to pick up some of the stuff she left in the washroom (she’d stayed with us for a couple of days); the pi�ata was filled, hung and a weapon was chosen (the back end of my mountaineering axe); gifts were given, very thoughtful and appropriate gifts. Michelle brings out good from everyone.
And then pi�ata bashing (blindfolded, spun and all that, fortunately the ceiling is very high) and more gorging on candy, and before we knew it it was after 2 in the afternoon. “This is the best birthday party I’ve been to since I was 8!” Keri says, and I’ve got to agree to the sentiment – we’re all having a great time, laughing ’til it hurts, and no-one is drinking. It’s very special.
Then we packed into the car and went skating. Of the 5 of us, only Keri and I had skated much before, and Mayumi and Michelle were both ice-novices. But did we ever have fun! A big frozen pond with mountains as backdrop in every direction, near-0 temperature, perfect sky, oh so fine…
The pen that I’ve been using to write since Friday, June 13th 2003 has finally run out of ink. It’s been nearly empty for so long, I though it would never expire. Truly, this leg of the journey is coming to an end.
With a bit of daylight left (the sun is up between 9:30 AM and 3:30 PM, the rest of time it is hiding behind mountains) we decided to get some crazy carpets and finish the day in style. Neither Michelle nor Mayumi had ever hear of the things. The local hills were covered in powder, but we screamed down, snow flying everywhere. Even Mayumi was into it – she who had avoided hikes while we were in Johnson’s Landing. Not that we did many runs – only Michelle did two, the rest of us one each. There’s only so much snow in the pants that one can handle, and non of us was wearing anything beyond shoes and pants, light jackets.
Then it was back to our place in order to get ready for the fancy dinner at the Rimrock. A few people came by to see the place while we were getting ready, I think the last crew was surprised to be greeted at the door by a man in a suit. I had originally tied my hair back, but Michelle asked me to let it down – she prefers it that way now that she’s given it a trim. The look on her face when I first got into the suit on Monday when it arrived was priceless. She likes how I look in it, but hadn’t seen me in anything close to dressy, ever. Just photos of me with the beard and looking even more scruffy then I do these days.
At the party, I ended up being the only guy at the table. Not a problem, a lot of fun. The reception was top quality (I had to fight the urge to scan for business contacts) and I was immediately recognized as “not staff” (the hair, sideburns etc are a dead giveaway). Michelle introduced me varyingly as her boyfriend, her rent-a-date, and a few more. I think that a number of the guys she’s befriended have crushes on her. I feel a little bad for them, but also incredibly fortunate to be the one guy going home with her.
Four courses of food, and I tried the shrimp, but only made it through two of them, and suffered a small amount the next day. Michelle got vegetarian versions – I would have preferred the feta stuffed tomato she had second over the shrimp, but the pepper steak and turkey with yams, raisins, cranberry sauce, whipped potatoes, carrots, etc, was great main.
And then dancing. It’s been a while, and dancing with someone specifically is not something I’ve done too many times at all. But it’s all about having a good time, and that we did. Before I knew it, 6 hours had passed and it was time to go. There were a number of people going out, but we opted to pick up a bit of pizza and head back to the apartment, to spend time together as couples do.
We were up early this morning, and it was very difficult to leave each others arms knowing that we may not see each other for a few months. When we finally did leave the apartment at 8:20, it was to sunrise colours on the mountain at the end of our street and others around, the quarter moon hanging in the near-blue sky, perfect temperature, great last morning.
The rest of the day has been a bit foggy. I’m leaving on the 4 AM bus to Calgary, will hop on a flight there. That means no sleeping ’til then, so I’ve slept most of the day.
Time to finish packing.