A little something about me: I like to set things in my horizons to look forward to.
That could be a cool event, or dinner, or even a vacation. I need to have something to be excited about, and to work towards. For the past couple of months, it was our family June trip. It had given me something to hold on to and to get through the monotony.
Well, as I write this column, it is the morning after getting home from it.
What the plan for the trip originally was, was an opportunity to test boyfriend in spending a full four days handling me and my son. We are still learning how to merge our two fully formed lives together, and this was a fun way to throw him in the deep end of my life.
However, in the planning stages, my mom voiced that she was interested in coming too. Then my grandma and her foster girls planned to join, and my sisters, and my ex-husband.
So, what had started as a test for boyfriend about consecutive days with my son and I, turned into a fully fledged family trip.
We just planned to go to Winnipeg for this trip. I grew up near the city and wanted to show off all of my favourite childhood places. This included the zoo (still my favourite place), the Manitoba Museum, the Red River Exhibition, and the Polo Park theatre.
My parents separated when I was pretty young, and growing up, my dad would take me and my sisters to Winnipeg once a month. All those places and more were such a big part of mine and my sister's memories.
The Winnipeg Zoo was always a favourite of mine. My love of animals has not wavered, and the zoo has changed so much in the last 20 years. I make it a part of every trip I can. We were actually able to go to this stop on the trip all together. All nine of us that wanted to go. The weather was sunny and hot, but sharing that zoo with my family was definitely my favourite part of the trip.
We all kind of branched off into our own little groups for the rest of the trip. Convening for meals and talking about each of our plans for the day. And sometimes even gathering at the hotel pool.
Boyfriend, my son and I broke off the next day to do some shopping. He needed shoes; I needed a new bra. He got shoes; I did not find a good bra. We met my ex-husband at the mall for lunch and then headed off for the exhibition.
The Red River exhibition is Winnipeg’s big fair. I went many many times with my dad and was so thrilled to share it with my son. However, it was so cold, rainy and windy that we didn’t get the full experience of it. My boy definitely got to do some rides in between showers, though, and we did get some overpriced but delicious fair food.
The museum on the other hand was amazing. It had gone through some huge changes since I last went, so it was new to me while still mixed with my old memories. I’d had my sixth birthday party there and was able to recreate one of the famous pictures from it with my son.
It was a very busy and fast four days, but getting my family all together was the truly incredible part. After being apart and unable to do anything due to COVID, this trip was a perfect reunion. And boyfriend did an amazing job folding into our family.
Now I need to come up with our next horizon thing…
