Saturday we stopped in Regina, Saskatchewan to meet more of Rob’s family. His mother and sister both live there. It is his mom’s hometown actually. Regina is really quite pretty, especially the streets and park around the Parliament. The first thing I noticed as we traveled down Albert is that many of the streets are tree lined on both sides. I just love that natural canopy effect. On sunny days the light dances down from the leafy ceiling in a way that seems to sparkle.

We headed into the downtown which was much like any other. Shannon, Rob’s younger sister, works at the Ramada near the Civic Center, and she had booked us a hospitality room so we could swim and use the hot tub. Her manager greeted us when we arrived and told us that Shannon had popped home for a bit because we were running late, but she would get us the key to the room. Between the wedding that had invaded that day and the renovations it was an obstacle course to the suite, but we arrived and Shannon and her children, Robert and Randi, soon followed.

Shannon has eyes like Rob’s, and his eyes are very striking. She isalso very animated. Never stopped talking, which is a good thing because Rob and I listen more than we speak anyway. Shannon has a self-deprecating sense of humor, but I am beginning to think that might be a widow thing. I didn’t mention she was widowed, did I? Seven years and still grappling with that widow tendency to wonder where the map is. Still waiting for life to begin again. “Wait, I have to do that, right?” she asked though it wasn’t really a question. We all know the drill on that score, but the practice of it is tricky, elusive even. People seem to think that it is simple. That there are certain things, like re-coupling for example, that magically make all other aspects of life fall into place, but it is not simple as both Rob and I can attest. It is simply getting up every day and living it. One foot. Another foot. You can’t wait for life to come back and take your hand because, like time, it moves forward only, and if you don’t follow along you can easily be left back and forgotten.

It wasn’t until we were on our way to Rob’s mother’s home that it occurred to him that we had just been to a Widowbago. It certainly had all the elements. A gathering of widows (Rob, myself and Shannon) and our children for dinner and swimming and hot tubbing (which I know is not a verb). Interesting, eh?