Week 28-30: Ontario

It’s about time for a little catch up!

As you now know, we left New Zealand after about two weeks of travelling through the country, and headed back to Ontario. The first few days were a bit of a blur between hospital visits and visiting with family. We were very glad to have made it home in time to talk to Will’s grandpa, and we cherished the time listening to stories about his life throughout the week. It was so difficult to say goodbye to such a special man, and especially difficult watching Will lose one of the most important people in his life. We felt thankful that we could be supported by, and offer support to, our family during this time. Although we never wanted to be returning to Ontario under these circumstances, we were grateful for the time with Will’s family members who travelled to be there as well. This trip to Ontario was obviously unexpected, but we were sure glad we had the time and ability to be there.

Having the opportunity to visit family and some friends was wonderful. We really appreciated the effort people put into seeing us, and were so thankful for every single one of the hugs we got! After months of greeting new faces every day, it was comforting to have people around who really knew us. We are sorry we didn’t have a chance to contact all of our friends and loved ones during this visit. We will look forward to more visiting the next time we are in Ontario!

We weren’t ready to race off right away, and felt lucky to be welcomed to stay as long as we wanted. We recharged our batteries with leisurely chats, delicious meals, Olympics coverage, playing with kids, and lots of laughs.

Our time in Ontario was filled with people going above and beyond. Instead of including only one act of kindness for this post, we’ve decided to include our Top 10 Kindnesses we experienced during these three weeks:

• Hearing stories about Will’s grandpa from his mom, sister, uncle, great uncle and aunt, step grandmother, and friends. Some were classics, and some were new, and it was great to hear them all.
• My mom giving up her car for much of the three weeks we were in Ontario so that we would have a vehicle to get around in. She arranged for rides with friends, and even got on to the local bus system!
• Celebrating my birthday with my mom, brother, and cousins. I hadn’t been sure where I would celebrate my birthday this year, but after being away for 10 birthdays, it was really nice to be with family. I was spoiled with multiple cakes and a LOT of birthday love!

• People travelling on dodgy roads and in snowy weather to make our visits happen.
• Generous offers of warm clothes! After stating many times that we were chasing sun this year and would not be packing much in the way of warm clothes, we found ourselves arriving in Ontario at the end of January. Lucky for us, no one judged us for our recycled outfits and we were able to borrow a number of cozy items. I even got to borrow a one-piece unicorn onesie, complete with hood!

• Getting to visit and play with our friends’ children. We love having the opportunity to watch as these children grow, and love seeing our friends in their role as parents.
• Enjoying so many delicious, home cooked meals with friends and family!
• Being invited to watch the amazing anti-bullying magic show that our friends Brent and Sarah perform in schools. Since we are never normally available during the school year, this really was a treat!

• People taking time out from their normal February routines to see us. We realize that most people were working and busy with their regular activities, and we appreciate the willingness to have these routines disrupted!
• Our hearts were warmed by the number of people who commented on Will’s post about his grandfather. He especially appreciated hearing from people he didn’t even realize were following our blog.

After some debate about whether to return to New Zealand or not, we decided to save it for another time. We will certainly be looking forward to going back in the future! Instead, we have moved on to the next continent on our list, South America! We flew into Bogota, Colombia on Sunday, February 18, and will write about our experiences in our next post!