Aedan, my mom and I embarked on his first International Trip. I was reminded that no matter the close proximty of Canada to the U.S. and the similarity of our people (except for the weird pronounciation of words with "ou" in them) we were crossing an international border - so said the grumpy border patrol lady.
I always get super nervous when crossing into Canada. Not because I'm smuggling any contraband or escaping anything. It's just very intimidating. This was my first time crossing with Aedan and I was pretty sure I had everything covered. My mom and I both had our passports, I copied Aedan's birth certificate. The one thing I didn't think to bring was a letter from Pat saying it was OK for me to bring Aedan with me to Canada. Who would've thought I needed to. Maybe this is my ignorance coupled with first-time momisms and not having traveled to another country with him. Anyway, I was promptly told that the next time I bring my son without his father across the border I will need to have a letter stating that it ok for me, his MOTHER, to bring MY SON, with me to Canada. Okay. I will.
Now I know this is a safety issue and there are plenty of crazy moms AND dads out there who steal their kids and escape to Canada (?). I'm happy for their sake that they have this order in place. But really, I couldn't help feel a little annoyed and bothered by the fact that they would request a letter. And really, couldn't I have just typed one up myself, signed Pat's name and been off to my refuge in Canada? Probably.
At any rate, we're in Montreal for a conference that I'm attending. My mom came with us thank goodness to care for Aedan while I'm in my workshops that are oh so interesting - about as interesting as community foundation workshops can be. (Yikes!).
I've learned more lessons about being a mom, juggling work, attending a conference knowing there's a cranky 7 month old 14 floors above, scheduling "mommy breaks" i.e. nursing and the dreaded pump.
Tomorrow we head back home where routine reigns instead of spontaneity. Is it weird for me to say I miss routine? I miss home. I miss the "way we do things" there.
Reading to my Animals
1 comment:
wow. you're lucky they let you cross at all. we had to have the ORIGINAL birth certificate for the kids, not a copy, and the ORIGINAL had to have the state seal embossed in it and also had to be notarized. good grief. and that was with both parents in the car. oy. it's time for me to get the kids passports, i've just been lazy about it.
k
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