In addition to a crazy work schedule, we've been experiencing a crazy warming trend in our weather. Hello, weather gods! This is January ... in The North! We're supposed to be well below zero and buried in snow in January!
Hello? Weather gods?
Anyone listening? (tap tap) Is this mike working???
Apparently not. Thanks to recent rain and warming, there is green grass appearing ...
... yet it's still close enough to zero degrees that SIDEWALK conditions are rather perilous. In pretty much any given location around the city, you can have one foot in a puddle ...
With all this craziness, I haven't had much time during my weekends or evenings to continue with the quilting. Sadly, I've only managed to complete Heart #2 ...

So I deliberately took some time out today and took myself out for brunch.

My oldest boy, Robert, had surgery for lung cancer when he was a toddler. There I was, about 20 years old (too young to be married and a mum, never mind mum to a little lad facing lung cancer!) and in the big city of Vancouver BC all alone. I was afraid to walk too far from the hospital for fear I wouldn't be able to find my way back again, but found I really needed to get out of the hospital for a little while each day. I found a White Spot restaurant a couple of short blocks away ... still within sight of Vancouver General Hospital ... and, bless them!, they had chicken pot pie on their menu! Respite and comfort food! I noticed today that they still have chicken pot pie on their menu.
That's only one reason that I have a special place in my heart for White Spot. After my boy started recuperating from his surgery, he was seriously craving two things: real potatoes ... particularly home-made potato soup ... and peanut butter. Both items were forbidden on his ward as too many of the children there had difficulties swallowing.
Okay, that was the excuse given by the hospital staff at the time. I might buy it for the lack of peanut butter, but not for the lack of real potatoes!
Robert begged and begged for potato soup, and finally someone brought him a bowl of instant mashed potato flakes mixed with hot water. He was NOT impressed! I can still hear his squeaky little voice letting the entire ward know "You're not fooling me! That's NOT potato soup!"
Nearing the end of his hospital stay, I was allowed to take him out on day passes for short periods of time. On one of those day passes, I took him to the White Spot near the hospital. On Cambie Street, if I remember correctly. Robert was a bit of an extravert and exhibitionist, and quickly regaled all the waitresses with every gruesome detail about his lung surgery along with a close-up display of incision and sutures. He explained that all he really wanted was real potatoes and peanut butter ... and, bless them!, the White Spot staff brought him a beautifully arranged platter with a little bowl of peanut butter surrounded by pieces of real boiled potatoes! Even dressed up with a bit of parsley! Robert was so thrilled! Any busy restaurant that takes the time and makes the effort to cater to a sick little 2 1/2 year old like that is pretty darned special in my books!
While I'm on the topic of pretty darned special in my books, this fella ...

... Canadian wrestling legend Gene Kiniski, is right up there with the White Spot (photo from http://www.wrestlingmuseum.com/homeie.html) One another day pass, I took Robert down to a Dino's restaurant on Broadway ... about the same distance from Vancouver General as the White Spot but in a different direction. We had just ordered pizza when Robert spotted Gene Kiniski. He knew who Gene was because Grandad F. had been an avid "wrastlin'" fan and Robert had watched many hours of "wrastlin'" on TV with his Grandad. Before I could catch him, Robert was down out of his chair, across the restaurant, and regaling Gene Kiniski with tales about his surgery and the accompanying display of incision and sutures. And Gene, bless him!, picked Robert up, sat him on his knee and treated him with the utmost graciousness and patience. He gave Robert a very special memory to take home and brag about to his Grandad F.!

Hmm. This isn't where I was planning on going with this post. I suppose Robert is on my mind because we are almost at the time of year when he left us. Robert lived with lung cancer for another 6 years after the White Spot / Gene Kiniski experiences. Sometimes he's as close today as he was 30 years ago.
2 comments:
That makes me sad. :o{
Thank you so much for sharing this with us..
It breaks my heart to think of your young family going thru this.
Bless his heart, I will be thinking of your Robert when I have a bowl of potato soup, and it will make me smile to remember such a little guy letting everyone know that he was not being fooled:)
Hugs,
Sheri
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