Canada!

I know, no blogging lately. I've been so busy. I'll likely not be able to return to my former pace until this class that I'm taking winds up in May, but I'll do my best to at least get little things down.

My class started last week, and on Saturday we had our first of two in-person meetings. In Presque Isle. I debated taking the class because of the distance, but finally decided that it was the only one running just 2 months (all the others took 4), and that I'd rather get it all done in 2 busy months than have to pace myself through 4 slower ones. And besides, I've never been to northern Maine. Adventure!

Me leaving the girls for an overnight is still a tricky idea, so the four of us decided to drive together to Fredericton, Canada on Friday so that we could stay there with the family we met at Disney Paris last year. They were super nice and had 2 girls Nina and Maggie's ages. The mom, Jenn, and I drove together to Presque Isle on Saturday morning, and she did some cheap American shopping while I had class. And the guys took care of the 4 girls. Perfect!!

It actually went really well, in spite of poor beginnings. We got on the road alright and made great time until just north of Millinocket, where we came upon a burning tractor-trailer. Not just a few flames there, this was a tractor-trailer inferno. There were only a few cars in front of us on the highway, most waiting to see where this was going to go, but a few braving passes even though the road was quite narrow (just 2 lanes and massive snow banks). Since this thing was really burning, and we didn't know what was on it, we decided to wait it out.

And wait.

And wait.

That baby burned for 30 minutes. Finally the fire department got there and put it out. At one point there were sparks and flames shooting 30 feet from it. Nina was pretty freaked out, because we were uncomfortably close.

It took more than an hour before we were on our way again. We got a good look at it when we passed it, and there was absolutely nothing left of the cab beyond the engine and chassis. Unreal.

Canada was great though! The girls had a wonderful day, Jenn and I chatted the whole way up and back, my class was super informative, and we had smooth sailing on the way back. The girls were so excited to add another country to their list (this makes 15 including the USA).

The only difficulty was a bit of bickering in the backseat over toys on the way home. I told them to stop the fighting or I'd take the toys away, and it didn't, so I did. Wow. And I thought the burning truck was bad.

"I'm planning running away," Maggie told me. "I'm going to find a new family that loves me. I don't want to be around you any more. I don't love you. I'll never love you. No one in your life will ever love you again."

Let's let that one sink in for a second.

No one in your life will ever love you again.

I tell you, this child has a gift for cutting straight to the quick.

(I do think she loves me again, but when I tried to get her to admit it, she got upset. Talking about love reminds her that she's not really sure if I love her and that whole debacle, so it's a topic that's on the banned list for now. I'll keep you posted if we're on solid love-footing in the future).

G'night!