Toronto Trip

Highlights
Good Report: My Mom received a good report at the doctors. It looks like the treatment has worked and thus, its safe to leave things "as is" for now- she will be going back in the fall to confirm. Obviously this is a big answer to prayer- thanks to everyone who took the time to pray!

Starbucks: I always find it kind of a contradiction to be walking in the busyness and hype of Toronto and have that all fall away just by walking into an establishment. Yet this is the type of environment that the good people at Starbucks have established. Good coffee- good quiet time.

Music: Albums from Warren Barfield, Downhere, Paul Wright, and Hawk Nelson made the driving time fly by. Plus on this road trip I realized it's official: I am officially a radio geek. I unapologetically scanned through the dial while passing through every city- much to the annoyance of the other passenger at times.

People: During my travels over the past couple of years, I've met some pretty interesting people. This trip was no different. We made friends with a little boy at the hotel who proudly held the door open for us as we walked through with our luggage. He later told his mom "look- those people are our neighbours! I helped them and they helped me!" Kids are cute.

I also spent some talking to the lady who runs the hotel gift shop. I think she remembered me from the last time we were there in May. She was quite surprised to find that I was using the arcade games the hotel had installed and I didn't try to justify it. Actually- I wouldn't be surprised to see her playing taxi the next time we go back. You gotta have some fun...

Things I would have rather avoided
Traffic: I don't know how people in Toronto can drive through that traffic on a daily basis. We got stuck in two traffic jams: one for almost an hour. The other for 20-30 minutes.

Impatient People: While we waited in the doctors office, three people (out of the eight that were in there) were angry that they had to wait to see the doctor. One guy kept approaching the secretary every few minutes, reminding her that he was still there waiting and "had a very important day a head of him." I don't know what bothered me more: his rudeness or his assumption that he was more important than every other person in that office, including the doctor. I'm not one to usually get annoyed by other people easily, but I was very annoyed. So much so that I left the waiting room and went for a walk outside. I don't envy doctors or their secretaries their jobs for more than one reason.

Distance: Sometimes its easy to forget just how far Timmins really is from Toronto. Well when you do most of the driving yourself and its up one day and back the next, you realize it. It's too bad Timmins wasn't located a little further South... not that I'm complaining or anything. I really do love life in Timmins.

In Conclusion
All and all, it was a very good, but short trip. And in this I found one advantage to be unemployed and uneducated: it gives me the freedom to "go along for the ride" whenever there's an opportunity. That's not the worst place to be in.