A change of circumstance, a trip, a move, or a change in routine, often gives rise to introspection. We’ve just come off of a busy summer. Rudy’s routine of golf games and suppers, walks with Alex, breakfasts with one group or another has ended. My summer of traveling between Victor St in Winnipeg (cycling, child care, renewing old friendships and enjoying the daughters that live a few streets away) and Rudy’s place in Steinbach (walking with Steinbach friends, enjoying my 3 grandsons and their parents) has come to an end.
And so, the question that arises is, what is the new story and how do I find it?
I am always looking for thread of a story and we have ample opportunity in our interactions with Paul and Kathy to piece together everything we glean in conversation, synthesizing it all into fascinating stories (at least our interpretations). We so enjoy are talks with them.
On the last leg of the cycle in the town of Milverton, with Paul and Kathy, I get lost and end up at an old cemetery. The old gravestones are from around the 1850s to the 1890’s. People put different information on gravestones back then. Of course, there are names and dates and that itself is interesting . These names are coming back in vogue: Mabel, Charlotte, Letitia, Henry and William. But the stories, I am sure are much different that today. For one thing the information recorded on the stones, pictures and motifs, poems and verses, etc. are different than what you would see today. Also the longevity of life. What does it tell me about life then? About the way people thought? What is the story behind each of those lives? I love spending time imagining and thinking about it all.
After lunch Rudy and I head off to Stratford to watch a production (and experience another great story) at the Stratford festival. It isn’t even something we had planned for but when we found that we were a 20-minute drive away, we jumped at the opportunity. Monty Python’s Spamalot is playing at one of the theatres and we arrived just in time to get parking and rush seating. Rudy and I both had enjoyed Monty Python in our early 20s and all the jokes and scenes are quite familiar as it is based on the Holy Grail movie. It is a musical and the singing and dancing and stupidity are excellent. Live theatre offers up a feast for the eyes with innovative and ever-changing staging, fabulous costumes, and unique ways of creating special effects.
We race back to Milverton with supper with Paul, Kathy and another friend that Rudy grew up with. Willie and everyone else review old times and people they have known. I nod and smile. It has been a great day.