Monday we began walking again. One team walked from the morning until early afternoon. The other team walked from the early afternoon until sunset. It felt really strange not to be walking for 8 or 10 hours. Also, driving to switch up the teams took quite some time. We found that splitting into teams for the day wasn't the greatest idea. So Pat came up with a solution...
On Tuesday it was decided that we would split into two teams: one team would walk and the other would have the day off! I think we have all enjoyed having days off. Though it's a little hard to motivate ourselves to get up in the morning the next day and walk 20km or so after lazing around the previous day. Of course, our days off are not totally relaxed. We'll buy groceries, find an RV park, and clean the RV which can take quite a while but can be very fun if we get creative. Another difference is that now that all of us are together at night, we have to pitch two tents (note Alex and Pat's wonderful pitching skills).For those of us who had the "day off" on Tuesday, we prayed at the hospital (the same one we prayed at the weekend previous). We stood out there during rush hour, which was really great. It was so busy and there were a few honks and thumbs up.
Wednesday we walked through North Bay, the city my mom was born in...and Wednesday was her birthday! We were invited for dinner at the Silver's house. Their son Tim was on NET Australia at the same time Lindsay was, and their daughter Sam was on a Parish team at Annunciation of the Lord, my home Parish. Some of us ended up sleeping over at their house which is always a treat when it's in the middle of the week.
On Thursday, those who were walking went through Algonquin Park. I didn't get to see much which is unfortunate, but from what I heard it was beautiful. They even saw a moose! For those of us who were not walking drove to Barry's Bay in the afternoon. For those of you who do not know, Barry's Bay is a small, Catholic town located in the beautiful Madawaska Valley. It is also the home of my wonderful school Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy. It was so great to see familiar faces. That evening we were invited to have a BBQ at the school along with our fellow faculty and friends. That night, we stayed in the residences; the girls at St. Cecilia's (my house of two years) and the guys stayed at St. Paul's.
On Friday, we walked through the Bay and went all the way to St. Mary's Church in Wilno. John-Paul and Terry Meenan joined us for a short while. Yet again, I felt like I was in familiar territory. Every year, OLSWA has a pilgrimage to Wilno. It's about 11km of walking and boy did it feel like a piece of cake this time! We also got so many honks and thumbs up as we walked through these little towns. I don't think we've gotten such a great response before.
Friday evening, half of us dropped by Cana Colony in Combermere. Cana is a Catholic family camp run by Madonna House. My family went in the summer of 1996. Though I did not remember the place at all, it did have a very homey feeling. I got to spend some time with my good friends the Timinskis. And Pat got to see his family who was participating in the week-long family retreat. I also got to see a few priest friends, such as Fr. Tom and Fr. David.
After our nice visit, we headed out to our weekend destination: Toronto.
We spent the weekend at Nellie's house which is in Milton. It was yet another relaxing weekend with amazing food and great company! Saturday we prayed at the Oakville Hospital. Some of you readers may already know that my mother grew up in Oakville. In fact, she worked at the Oakville Hospital when she was my age. It is also the place where my Nana spent her last days on earth, God rest her soul. There was an amazing turn-out at the hospital. We felt like celebrities as the other pro-lifers greeted us smiling and waving eagerly. And you want to know something amazing? The first woman I spoke to turned out to be my mom's neighbour growing up. The crazy thing is that while I was speaking with her I was sure she looked familiar, though I never remembered meeting her before. Anyway, this woman Laura and her mother Freda were so pleased to discover that I was Suzanne Nabieszko's daughter. Freda was one of my Nana's best friends and she spoke very highly of her. I can't even describe how I felt while I was speaking to these women. I felt at home. Actually, Barry's Bay, Cana and then Oakville felt like I was home. It was great!
Saturday evening, we picked up our eleventh member of the team: Alex's older brother, Adrian.
On Sunday we did our usual speaking at Parishes. We spoke at three Churches in Scarborough and one in Kitchener. The Parish that I was assigned to was St. Boniface which just so happened to be where Paul Taylor goes! Paul is a friend from OLSWA and he did the Canada walk last summer.
And speaking of friends, we were able to meet up with a few other friends of ours from school (Marie-Claire and Heather), and Nellie's friend Isabelle came over as well!
