Caitlin and Trevor, who were engaged with their wedding
coming up July 7, were also waiting for their new house to be finished, came to
live with me. They took over the spare
bedroom and it was awesome having them here.
The house, literally 10 minutes away, also in Maple Ridge, kept getting
delayed. It was hoped that they would
move in shortly before their wedding. It
didn’t happen.
In the interim, I had to get a new suit for the
wedding. I kept teasing them I was going
to show up with a “James Bond” tuxedo.
But, they convinced me that it wasn’t that formal, in fact Trevor and
his groomsmen weren’t even going to wear jackets. So, I headed over to Tip Top in Langley to
get a new suit. I have bought every suit
I have ever owned at Tip Top because they are good quality and reasonably priced. Nothing off the rack would fit and by the
time I walked out of there I had my first $1000 + suit. I couldn’t wear dress shoes because of my
mangled feet, and went with a black walking shoe. It worked.
I wore the suit for the first time at my 45th
high school reunion. As at previous reunions, I became the “official”
photographer and ended up with over 1000 shots. It was a chilly night, but with
my body thermostat all screwed up, I was sweating big time and wondered what
would happen if the weather was hot on July 7.
I was about to find out. I had
not been able to find a proper card, for them and Josie, my neighbour came
through, doing a custom card for me to give to them. I wrote out a heartfelt verse for the card
and then decided to also read it out at the reception.
We had a rehearsal at Trevor’s parents place, which I again
of course photographed, taking over 1000 shots of the festivities. A great time was had by all. There was lots of laughing and joking, and
large amounts of drinking by most. But,
it was awesome.
Finally the day arrived and it was hot. Caitlin had
left a couple of days early to stay with ber wedding party. Trevor did the same the day before. Meanwhile, I was trying to get ready, but the
dexterity in my hands is really bad now and I had a bitch of a time doing up my
shirt buttons. After 40 minutes, I got
them all done up and headed for the wedding.
The air conditioning in the truck kept me comfy for the hour
long drive. But once I was out and into
the hotel, I was sweating buckets. Thankfully
the jacket hid most of it, but that made it hotter. We got through the ceremony, and the whole
wedding went off perfectly without a hitch.
Caitlin had done all the planning herself. There was a professional photographer to
shoot the ceremony and post events. But
if you think I wasn’t bring my camera, well.
I shot 1300 photos of just the reception.
A couple of weeks later, their house was ready and moving
day came. I was sad to see them go as we
had a lot of fun while they were here.
Although between their jobs and wedding plans on weekends, I didn’t
really see them that much.
In August, I brought up the suggestion of going to
photograph the Abbotsford Airshow. After
some hemming and hawing, Renee surprised me by agreeing to go. The day of the show dawned with rain, which
was going to be a major disappointment, especially since I bought Grandstand
seats. But by the time we got there the
rain had stopped and the sun was attempting to come out. It made it pleasant because it was much
cooler. This time I ended up with over
1500 shots, some of the outstanding variety.
Later in August, I discovered the PNE was having an event
called Knights of Valor which involved real jousting. On the spur of the moment, I decided I had to
photograph it and so I grabbed my gear and headed to the PNE on a Tuesday
evening. Over 1000 shots later I
staggered home in agony.
At the end of August, I started to get ready for the coming
hockey season. I added new steel to my
skates, a wider blade called Flare, that was thought would give me more
stability. It didn’t. I have always skated with a deep groove 3/8”
in my blades, which gave me more “grip”.
These new blades were a much milder ¾” groove. I couldn’t control them and ended up
straining my groin badly.
At about the same time, I began to experience severe pain in
both hands and wrists. I thought it was
just over use of the camera, and sort of let it go. Hockey season came around and I couldn’t
plaay. Not only could I not do up my
skates, I couldn’t hold a stick. The
pain was the worst I have felt in my life.
I finally got a new family Doctor and coincidentally, it was kitty
corner to the Vet where Toby took his last breath. Hopefully not an omen.
She did my blood pressure, and because I was in such pain,
it was through the roof. She immediately
put me on a blood pressure drug.
Unfortunately, it didn’t do much and resulted in a wicked cough and
other side effects. She switched that up
after a couple of weeks, but the new drug was way worse. I literally felt like I was dying. I went from walking 10 kilometers per day, to
not being able to walk to the end of the driveway. The same thing that happened to Toby. Was this another omen? God, I hope not.
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