Little Waltz

My mom and I were at Rona today looking at paint colors for the fences around the perimeter of our property that need to be painted this spring. After we had looked and chosen the colour we liked, we headed for the door. In one of the checkout lines was a older man who smelt like Old Spice. This is the very same brand of deodorant and cologne my grandfather used all his life. That familiar smell that is so comforting washed over both my mom and I. It wasn't until we were out of the store, on our way to our car, that my mom verbalized what we were both feeling. She said teary-eyed, "that older man in the checkout line smells exactly like my dad." I replied, "I know," dismissing the pain and tears in her eyes.

Its been almost ten years since my grandfather died but every day I miss him more and more. The holidays we spent at my grandparents cabin just outside of Saskatoon will forever be in my heart. Watching Ben-Hurr, The Ten Commandments, Fiddler on the Roof and The Sound of Music, (the only videos my grandparents owned) laying in the hammock watching the sun shine through the trees in the front yard of the cabin, being woken up by the my grandparents neighbour who mowed his lawn every Saturday and the walks we took through the tiny forest and across the lawns of all of the neighbours to get to my aunt and uncle's cabin are memories that I would have liked to share with my children.

My grandparents sold the cabin a year before my grandfather died. Its been my dream ever since to buy the cabin back. My family built the cabin together. From the cement slab it used to be when my grandparents bought it for $1000 dollars to the beautiful cabin it became full of love, community and memories. Maybe its the memories that I am clinging onto but if you ask me where my most favorite place is in the world, I would definitely have to say the cabin at Blackstrap Lake.