elizabeth grigg - the other fourth meal

Bring the whole family to a blogging conference? What were we thinking?? Well, given the new kid-friendly room, given my cousin's move to Vancouver, and given my dh's continued fascination with the roadsigns, the metric system, etc. (You know, roadsigns in the US are designed by prisoners! In Canada, they're designed by graphic designers. Curiously, they're not all that different. but different enough to indicate the author) we decided to give it a whirl.

We thought we would beat traffic by leaving at 3pm. Note to self, do not move to Marysville anytime soon. We pulled under the sign that said that our border crossing would take less than 5 minutes. What a relief after the traffic! Then, when actually reaching the border around 7pm, the police were there and lots of roadblocks. They directed us left and on I5 back to the states as if this was ordinary business. They said "follow the traffic."

Little did we know that we were being taking on a 2 hour detour... we knew things were wrong when the next exit was 10 miles away. We stuck to the car ahead of us like glue, since it had BC plates. Then, we figured out they were doing a U turn to the truck crossing. This was a 2 hour delay just like out of that famous episode of Malcolm in the Middle, where the cop tells the mom "You're a control freak. This is a traffic jam. You can't control it." Our cell phones were off, and the last placative cookies out of my purse were eaten.

Finally I cracked and started singing. Here were my options:
"Boom boom ain't it great to be crazy"
"Sister Christian"
"Somewhere Out There (from the land before time)"
"Jingle Bells"

We made it to the hotel, apologized to my cousin and - in spirit - to the BBQ we had no chance of attending. I did bring a killer sweater for it, perhaps you'll get lucky and see it.

WHile waiting we looked up in the sky and saw the helicopters. We still don't know what happened, but we know they were looking for someone. I thought of my elementary school classmate who recently went underground because his name was on a list. I thought how very sad it is we have to live in a world of such suspicion - that we have to give up our rights - and also that we live in a world where such suspicions are occasionally justified. I thought maybe it was my classmate sludging through the swamp next to us, eluding the helicopters, raiding the dumpster at burger king. Heck, I was so hungry I might do it myself.

Anyway, we made it. More soon.