The idea was to create a bunch of little events throughout the year because it’s a milestone birthday-year for Derek. It began with the trip to Iceland. And I haven’t thought of how it will end, yet. (I’m open to ideas!) But here in the middle, his daughter was going to come from Nova Scotia for a surprise visit.Â
Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) has just earned a university degree in psychology. She and I conspired to have her arrive at the annual Botten party, Sharonstock, and give her Dad a happy heart attack. A few weeks later, Derek came home after meeting his buddy Jeff for a coffee and announced that they had chosen the very same week for their annual motorcycle trip. Yikes! So I had to tell him, which was just as well because then he got to look forward to her visit, too.
She is 22 and as smart and funny as she is beautiful. On a previous summer visit, Ceilidh came with her best friend Taylor. Taylor met our nephew Jordan and – long story short – they’re a couple. So there’s a second solid link from Halifax to London, and Taylor helped put this whole little plan together. We had a wonderful week with Ceilidh including a Dad-and-daughter day, and another full day when it was just the three of us. Among other things, we toured the Labatt plant here in London, where the company started. Derek’s Dad, Ceilidh’s grandfather, spent his whole working life there and Derek worked there for a summer. It’s very different now, mostly automated, and we stood under tanks containing 8-million bottles worth of beer. At the tour’s end, there’s some sampling and a little tutorial about proper pouring techniques. It was terrific.
I’ve written before about the Sharonstock event. It’s at brother Rob’s home in Sharon, Ontario, and his band, The Dust Monkeys, perform. It was so loud the first few years, York region police visited and shut it down. That became a badge of honour until finally, a couple of years ago, they decided it wasn’t worth it to get fined so it went acoustic. It’s our annual catch-up with far-away-friends and cousins and a good time is had by all, including all six Botten siblings.
In addition to the stay-cation activities, we took Ceilidh and Taylor to Grand Bend for a day, held a big family BBQ at our place and had lots of time to just chill out in each others’ company. In other words, it was pretty darn great and hard to see her go. We have a family wedding in September and hope she’ll return to attend it.
Batteries are recharged and the brain is ready to go into work-world-overdrive again. Tomorrow, I’ll tell you how that world got upended while I was on holidays.