Once upon a time, the Oliverio's went on a trip to Montreal Canada in a blue rented van. We traveled up the Eastern coast visiting tourist sites along the way. We dashed around Washington D.C. and made our way north to Niagra Falls. We stopped at Hershey Pennsylvania and traveled through the chocolate factory and ate fluffy pancakes with real homemade strawberry ice cream on top at Crowder's Dairy Restaurant. We visited the battlefields in Gettysburg. We stopped at my friend Mary Beth's house in a tiny town in New York while she wasn't home and turned all of her furniture around to face the walls. Then we left for Niagra Falls. We rode on an omnibus in Montreal, and I will never forget Nikky, then four, running into the bathroom after turning on the television in our hotel room yelling, "Mom, Gargamil put a curse on the Smurfs,and they all talk funny."
It was an adventure, and as adventures sometimes go, it had its edgy moments. We were chased through the mountains of Pennsylvania late at night by a crazed tow truck driver. I remember praying out loud over and over for God to save us. We got stuck in traffic on the belt around D.C. with a four year old who had to go to the bathroom. We stayed in Montreal during a flash flood and the lobby of our hotel flooded. We followed a detour off a country rode in French Canada that had no route returning to the main highway, and none of us spoke enough French to ask directions. Somehow, we ended up in Syracuse, New York and ate wonderful pizza and drank cokes with real ice. I remember the trip vividly, and through it all, God was with us. He always is- through the fun and the frenzy. What remarkable assurance.
2 Esdras 16:75
Peace.
Love, Linda
2 comments:
Wow! I remember that trip so well, too! I guess if Nikky was 4 then I was 14. You didn't mention that actually only Nikky and I ordered pancakes, and you and Darren swarmed poor Nikky's pancakes like vultures. I also remember the actual date of the flood in Montreal-July 14th. Of course, it was my birthday so that made it a little bit easier to remember. And kind of funny that we happened to be in a flood in French Montreal on Bastille Day. I always thought that was kind of weird! Do you think to this day Mary Beth still leaves her house unlocked?
I was hoping you would read this because I knew you would remember it well, and, yes, we swarmed Nikky's pancakes like vultures! Remember when Darren got locked in the stairwell, and you thought he was a weirdo trying to break into the hotel? I had forgotten it was Bastille Day and your birthday. Happy Birthday to you again! If you can pray for the past, I am sure you can resing happy birthday.
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