up and away, minus tiny tiny knife

We're off! I feel better already. On the advice of my savvy friend Richard, I got the new UPS Express to Pearson - wonderful, smooth as air, 25 minutes from Union Station to Terminal 1 on a brand new sparkling train, only $6 for seniors. Now that's a deal. My suitcase and I made it easily to the Air Canada bag drop; the bag weighs 52 pounds but that didn't bother the check-in woman, so it doesn't bother me. Only one glitch - how could I be so stupid? At the last minute before leaving home, I slipped my tiny Swiss Army knife into - not my suitcase, but my backpack. Idiot! Caught by the eagle eye. I could certainly do a lot of damage with a one inch penknife. Maybe it's the nail file they're afraid of. Or the tweezers.

Sigh. I know, better safe than sorry. I'm happy to be safe from wild-eyed women with vicious one inch knives.

Now I'm at the western gates, it's 10.30 a.m. and the travel hungries have started. Though I had a full breakfast at home, I've just had a fat pita full of good stuff and a Starbucks latte macchiato. And thou. My backpack full of snacks, New Yorkers, and ripped-out newspaper articles I haven't had time to read these past weeks. But what I'm going to do right now is a final edit of the essay and send it off from here. Then I'm truly free to explore.

Last night, the last class of the Ryerson term - as usual, they all feel like family. One man, who's in his mid-80's, told me I have joined the list of people who have changed his life. What an honour. He said that all his life, he has resented his cold, judgemental father, but when he started to write about his childhood, he discovered for the first time how lucky he'd been.

And I said, you know, your childhood can be both - lucky, and with a cold, judgemental father. We can encompass all those stories and more. Lucky us.

Lucky me - the big skies of Canada await. Talk to you soon.

Half an hour later: MAILED! And now we go.
To keep you busy and inspired, Event magazine is posting a non-fiction writing prompt every day.
http://www.eventmagazine.ca/2016/01/non-fiction-prompt-1/

And FYI, holds true for memoir too: