I do not forget things

As usual, I went 40 hours without sleep before finally zonking myself out in Toronto. I really, really need to stop that behavior. I am still tired.

I have mentioned that I almost never get sick. I had bronchitis in 1997 or 1998. I was taught self-hypnosis and told that mostly we choose to get sick. I was taught to then believe that I don't get sick, and somehow, it works.

So, I have decided to try to use the same concept on my memory. Wish me luck - who knows? I might remember what I did on my trip. I wasn't "allowed" to take my computer (per child) because we were only going overnight. I decided there was merit to not having it since we would be "homeless" the second day once we checked out anyway. I do remember that we had a great time.

Talk about pre-conceived ideas. Child had never been on a train before, but certainly has watched a lot of movies. She was expecting a sleeper train, perhaps a private car, for a 4-hour train ride to Toronto. We didn't even leave from Michigan. We drove into Canada for the train.

Oh, what a lovely drive. We left about 4 am, and it poured rain and was foggy the entire time. In fact, it remained rainy the entire first day in Toronto and well into the evening. I hate driving into Detroit, but felt better to have a navigator. My mavigator fell asleep exactly at 8 Mile Road, which is the border to Detroit.

I woke her up, and she admitted she had no idea how to get downtown either.

Once we got to Toronto, she woke up and we left the train station. Due to the rain, we took a cab to the hotel. That was probably a first for me. Child loved the hotel, loved the room. We unpacked (didn't take long) and hit the streets. Child had ignored my suggestion of wearing a rainproof jacket with a hood, so we went to the mall first. We walked about 5 miles through the mall, and left for a walk. In the rain. We ended up at one of my favorite little dives, Jeremiah Bullfrog. I figured Child would either love it or hate it. She loved it. We had a few beers, talked, tried to wait out the rain.

We went back out (in the rain) and went to my personal ground zero. I finally had my absinthe drinks again. The bartender taught the Child, who is a bartender, to make the drinks for me at home. Child was interested in the taste and smell of the drink, saying she never had anything like it. I was happy. She had a lot of beer, so she was happy. We were also really, really tired. Child got hungry.

I swear she has to eat every day. We walked down towards Lake Ontario, by the CN Tower, and stopped in the Irish Pub I had been in before. She ordered her dinner, I got some soup, and we talked again. I told her that I had gone in the Irish pub 2 1/2 years ago, feeling a sense of familiarity. It turned out that my ex-husband and I had gone in the same pub before the Child was a reality. Not long before - I had taken the train to Toronto once with my ex when I was pregnant with the Child. Child was lost in thought about how I had been to the same place with her and her father, a quarter of a century apart.

Child was again trying to quit smoking, using me as her, um, person who will tolerate her like that? She used the patch. She didn't get too bad. She seemed motivated.

After dinner we decided exhaustion was winning and we went to the hotel. I got out a book, child went to sleep. Immediately. Geez, she already slept 4 hours on the train. I was still up. I took half a sleeping pill. I read for a while. I took the other half, and read some more. I finally tried to lie down. No dice. I got up and took a third half (I know, I know). Finally, after being up 40 hours, I was able to sort of sleep. It was 2 am. I was awake by 6 am, but dozed off and on for a couple of hours. I shook the Child awake about 9 am and we went to breakfast.

I had grabbed a donut on the way home from the Irish place because Child sometimes sleeps like 15 hours and I needed something to eat in the morning. Child didn't, so we went for a walk to find her a place to eat. She finally found a coffee house/Vietnamese restaurant (maybe something else?) and since I don't like the smell of coffee, we ate outside on the patio. Child sulked. I smiled. She got her food, and I tossed little pieces of her toast to the little birdies.

Child does not like birds. One landed on the back of the chair next to her. I am glad herheart is good and strong. (The bird is alive still, don't worry.) A pigeon joined the group. Child looked at the pigeon, put some egg on her fork, and waved it at the pigeon, yelling, "Go away! I am eating your child!"

Did you know that birds will eat cooked eggs? That is a gross thought, isn't it?

Part 2 coming later on....