What a fun weekend! My besties and I were off to our first frat party of the year!

He said

This week for Emelia was her first, full week of classes which meant university got a lot more real. By all counts she likes her classes and really loves her choice of King’s which is reassuring. She had a great O-Week and felt it was a good mix of events to make it fun and get to know university life, but also she didn’t do everything. When Danielle & I went to university we stayed in residence and there was foregone conclusion that would attend and do everything and I distinctly remember feeling exhausted and overwhelmed by the end of the week. I knew that I could not keep (or afford) that first week pace and thankfully we didn’t. For Emelia she had the perfect mix of events for O-Week and hangs with her whole group of besties from Lucas that are kind of off in all directions this year.

This weekend was Emelia’s big first—an almost right of passage for any Western Student: the Frat Party. Friday night they got the lowdown on the party and decided they would go. Emelia, Bri, Belle and Shai all went. Now she had been to a frat party last year but, this was her first as an official university student and so it was a bit bigger of a deal. The girls were all excited to cross this right of passage. And in true Frat Party fashion, it took two hours from its start for the police to be called and it to be shut down. Shortly after midnight the girls were figuring out rides home from an over-attended party that likely neighbours had enough of and called in a complaint about. So cross off a second right of passage for university: a party shut down by the po-po!

With it being another weekend of university firsts, Danielle & I opted to stay in London rather than sneak off to the trailer last night. That meant I was able to get in another club ride with LCC today out to St Thomas and back this morning. The ride route was 62km but rather than driving over to Greenway Park to the start, I bike to and from there, which made the ride 78km total for me today. We were off by 8:30am this morning and by 12 noon I was home and planing the rest of the day with Danielle. One of the big reason I like these rides is I am out of the house early and it gives Danielle a couple hours (of peace from me) to sleep in and enjoy the morning at a slower pace. And it gives me the opportunity to put down some big distance towards my year-end goal of 12,000km with some good friends I’ve made through cycling.

When we look at the calendar the amount of times that it looks like we can get up to the trailer before it closes down for the season is quickly dwindling. And to be honest, as the weather is turning colder, it becomes more palatable to accept as fall quickly gets near. I will get up to the trailer on Wednesday for the day to get in a ride on the G2G and pick up some things we left (forgot) the last time we were there. The remaining trips will be less about slowing down and enjoying and more about buttoning up what turned out to be another great season at Auburn. Sure we didn’t get up there near as much as we liked, but understandable when you consider that Mom passed away in June which like last summer with Dad, had an impact on our time and ability to get up to the trailer. The hope is, that next summer and going forward we get as significant breather from family members passing away!

She said

This was a fully packed week and week for Emelia and rest of our family. Emelia had her first full week of classes and therefore a first week of trying to make sure she is keeping on top of her class prep and readings. So far so good, she is really loving her classes and her professors. She is slowly getting to know people in her program and we are hoping that the girls start meeting more friends at King’s.

Before we knew it, Friday was here and it was a weekend full of plans. Friday evening, while Emelia was at work and before the party prep, we had a big family gathering to celebrate Zoe’s birthday. It is hard to believe that she is already 9 years old, but sometimes when I talk to her, I feel we are turning 9 going on 16. Like every kid that age, they cannot wait to be older. They look up to their older cousins and want to be just like them. Zoe is no different. We were smiling at Zoe’s birthday wish list, seeing all the things she loves that Emelia has—the certain shoes, the lip glosses, make-up bag, clothes, and everything pre-teen going on teenager. We had such a great night, we are trying to take all these moments in. We know tomorrow is not promised and these moments only get harder as life moves on. Over the coming month, Testza and the kids will be making a big move in their lives. Testza has been seeing someone for the last while, he is so kind, great for Testza and great with her kids, and the added bonus is that he has two kids very close to the ages of the girls. Testza and Jeremy have made the big decision to combine their homes together, but this means that Testza and the girls, along with Vaughan, are moving an hour away to Kitchener. It will be a big change for all of us. In such short order, there is soon only going to be 5 of our family members still in London. But we are a close family and are already making holiday plans to ensure we get together.

After Emelia was off work and was able to come see Zoe to wish her a happy birthday she was off to Bri’s house to start getting ready for the big night. The big first plan now that school is in full swing was to got to their first frat party of the year. Emelia and her friends went to one last year St. Pat’s weekend but this was their first real official one as Western students. The party was packed, Emelia was socially all over meeting some new people and by all accounts Bri and the other girls had an epic night. From all stories and play by pay from Emelia, Belle and Darius as I drove them home it was an amazing night and great start for parties at Western. Next prep has already begun as Homecoming is just two weeks away!

After a late night it was a really struggle to get Emelia moving the next day, but we were getting up early and hitting the road for the best reason. A few weeks ago I got a message from my niece Amy to see if Emelia and I could come down for visit to be there when she picked up her wedding dress. We didn’t have to be asked twice. Emelia and I were on the road late morning and heading to Fonthill to the bridal shop. Emelia and I drive though the small town her late Aunt Linda grew up, drove by the church that her Uncle David and Aunt Linda got married all on the way to see their daughter in her wedding dress. I was a huge and emotional day. When Linda passed in 2019 and Amy met her now fiancé a year later I promised her that even if I could never replace her mom I would be there every step of the way. Amy and I have been able to stay connected though this painful common thread of both loosing our mom at a young age. When Amy walked out in her beautiful dress all the emotions of that moment hit all of us. There were tears of happiness but also of sadness that Linda was not there to see her daughter glow and be this happy. And once Amy put on a veil she really wanted but stressed if it was going to cost too much after paying for the dress. The three aunts all looked at each other and knew, she was getting it, while she went to get out of her wedding dress we quietly bought the veil as a gift from us. When we told Amy we did this another sea of tears started. It was a perfect day and were so touched to be asked to be part of it.

After a very long day Emelia and I made our way home, Emelia crashed out for a bit before heading out to hang out with her friends for the night. John and I had a pretty quiet and lazy and busy weekend.