Short story: My 2012 trip to Canada

One of the highlights of 2012 was my trip to Canada. 

My two sisters live in Canada with many family members. Trixie, my youngest sister, lives in Lachine, Quebec. It is a city close to Montreal.

She got colon cancer about five years ago, had chemo treatments, and went into remission for a while. Later, they found a spot on her lungs. She’s the only cancer victim in our family. 

It was very sad but she has spunk and was optimistic that she’d overcome it. She was easily tired and couldn’t even walk outside for more than five minutes. She stayed in the house a lot. It was going into the fifth year of recuperating from that first surgery and all the chemo treatments.

I wanted to be with her for a while and combine it with a visit to my oldest sister, who lives in Toronto, Ontario. She was having her 90th birthday and her children were having a special party for her. I took the plane with my Honey (my little Yorkie) to Montreal.

My sister, Letty, from Holland came also. She was with Trixie a week already when I arrived. We had a nice time together. Trixie’s son, Martin, and family were present, and her other son, Danny, came also. Letty and I made a big delicious Indonesian meal. It was indeed a feast. 

The next day Danny, who lives in Ontario, took us to the Laurentians, a gorgeous mountain area in the province of Quebec. It was late fall, but we still had beautiful sceneries of glorious fall colors everywhere. He rented rooms in a hotel right in the middle of all that beauty. 

The hotel was very unique. They had a jacuzzi behind the hotel between the trees. The reservations also came with three meals a day, which were very well prepared, and authentic French dishes. 

We took nice short walks and played cards in the evening. Danny was so nice to us and treated us like royalty. No wonder Trixie was doing better. We all had a very peaceful three days. 

On the way home, Danny drove us to the top of the mountain where we had an awesome view. There was also a small church and a giant cross. It was so picturesque.

When we got back, Danny stayed with his dad for two days and then his mom, Lettie, and I drove with him to Toronto, where our oldest sister Francis lives in an assisted living home. I was pleasantly surprised how nice that place was. 

The assisted living home Francis lives in is run by Dutch people, but of course the nurses and other personnel weren’t Dutch and didn’t speak Dutch, which was a disappointment for Francis. She speaks several languages, but when she got 90 years and above, she fell back to her birth language. My mom did the same when she was that age. But the priest did speak Dutch, and so did one of the directors there. 

The home threw her a really nice party. My sister’s five children, three sisters, Danny and his wife and a lot of the people that live in the home were present. They had a delicious cake and coffee or tea. The priest spoke and her oldest son, Hank, gave a speech also. 

The following Sunday, Hank, Francis' oldest son and his wife had a party for her at their home. Many of Francis' old friends came as well as her grandchildren. My daughter, Loretta, was also present. It almost felt like a small family reunion. 

That following Wednesday her children were still present and we all went to see Niagara Falls at Francis’ request. We all enjoyed that immensely. We even stopped at a winery, since there were several wineries in Ontario and some on the way down from Toronto. That was interesting and a nice break. I’m not a liquor drinker, but I like a nice wine sometimes, and they sure had delicious wine. I bought a bottle and took it back to Trixie. 

The next day we all departed to our destinations. Francis and Trixie were happy to have seen everybody and felt loved for all the attention they got. 

I stayed another week with Trixie in Lachine. We played some bridge and I was able to take her to the doctor and the grocery store, and walked her dog. Her ex-husband came by and took us for dinner, which was nice. Trixie stayed friends with Ralph after the divorce, and I knew him as well. I lived in Montreal for 10 years, and was at their wedding. They keep each other company, which is really nice in these circumstances. 

All went well, she was happy to have seen her three sisters, enjoyed Danny’s surprise to take his aunts and mom out. He had rented a big car, so everybody was comfortable, even my Honey. Then it was time to go home. I drove myself and Trixie to the airport (it’s only a few miles away) and Trixie drove back by herself.

I am always glad I took the time and effort for that last Canadian trip. Trixie’s cancer came back the next year with a vengeance and she died in 2014. She was my baby sister, and I will miss her forever.