Eleven Years Ago

I wrote this blog post in early June, while COVID-19 was still keeping us from pubs, restaurants, and hair salons. When I wrote this, I didn't know where I would be, come September: but now that our 2020 travel plans have been officially cancelled, I'm remembering better days, when we could travel freely.

It was a promise that I had made to DW in May, 2004.

We were sitting in Piazza del Campo, in Siena, Italy, enjoying the warm spring sun, and watching people in the large plaza that is famous for its twice-yearly horse race, Palio di Siena, when we saw a young family with two young children. The kids, two girls, were aged between 5 and 10. Our own daughters, aged 3 and not quite 1, were back in Canada, under the care of my parents.

DW and I were celebrating our 10-year wedding anniversary, and watching these kids, running around the piazza, chasing pigeons, we suddenly became homesick, wanting to be with our girls.

"In five years," I promised DW, "we'll be back here, watching our own kids chase pigeons."

On Wednesday, September 22, 2009, the four of us set out to fulfill that promise.

It wasn't the first time that DW and I had flown with the kids. That happened in 2005, when we flew out to Winnipeg to visit DW's brother and his family. But this was the first flight since then, and it was the first time that the girls, now aged 8 and 6, had taken a flight overseas, to Europe.

We took a small turboprop plane from Ottawa to Montreal, and then changed onto a larger jet to Rome. Though it was a long flight, the kids were well-behaved: I sat next to our oldest daughter, giving her the window seat; DW sat across the aisle, with our youngest. They had plenty of craft books to keep them occupied, plus the in-flight movies. We encouraged them to sleep as much as possible so that they wouldn't be as exhausted when we arrived, the next day.

I've decided to relive the family vacation of 2009, of the promise kept, and my kid's first adventure abroad. Tomorrow, I'll share our first day in Rome.

Ciao!