A Small World

In 1978, my dad married my stepmother. She was a widow, with two grown children. I was very much in favour of it, as she is a wonderful person. I packed up Older Daughter, who was not quite walking yet, and went up for the wedding.

I flew into Vancouver, and took the bus out to the ferry and headed for Nanaimo to take the bus down to Saltair and my dad's house. While on the ferry, I decided to call Dad, on the off chance that there might be somebody available to pick us up in Nanaimo. There was only one phone booth on the ferry, and somebody was in it. I stood outside, with my wiggling baby, waiting for my turn. Suddenly the door flew open, and this skinny old man started telling me to come into the booth with him. He was beckoning frantically, with wild eyes and wilder hair. I started looking around for help. I had the baby, the baby bag, my purse, coat and suitcase, and was in no position to run far or fast. I started slowly backing away. He shouted my name! I started backing faster. He said, "I've got your father on the phone!"

It turned out that he was the brother of my stepmom's deceased husband, and also on his way to the wedding. Dad and Joan had told him to look out for me on the ferry, and described me quite accurately.

I'm so glad we sorted that out!