travel

2 Comments December 30, 2015 drworobec

You didn’t hear from me yesterday. That’s the first time in nearly four years that I didn’t publish a blog post on Tuesday morning. Did you miss me?

My family and I were at the mercy of the Winter storm that just swept through Ontario and Quebec, and it took us 40 hours to get from my parent’s home in Sundre, Alberta, to ours here in Burlington. It’s usually eight hours door to door.

This is what I wrote on my personal Facebook Page yesterday, and my adrenaline is still pumping:

Friends. Thank you for your concern. We are SAFE. I need to tell you about this circus because you will not believe it.

Our trip home began yesterday morning, leaving Sundre at 6:45am. In the last 30 hours we have experienced flight delays, push-backs to the gate, flight cancellations, and several trips through 60-90min baggage and security lineups. The most terrifying experience of my life was trying to land at Pearson last night- we were over the runway, past the tops of buildings when we experienced wind shear and the pilot had to abort the landing- as we rose back out of Toronto we could hear the ice pellets hitting the plane and could not see a thing through the thick cloud. Chris and I were separated, as the plane didn’t have room for us to sit together, and our sleeping children missed their parent’s terror completely.

We arrived at our hotel in Montreal at 3:30am last night and our flight today was again cancelled. There are no rental cars available. We are now at the Via station waiting for our (delayed) train and hope to be home by midnight tonight, as scheduled. We have 100lbs of luggage, two car seats, 4 carry-ons, and we have taken 8 cabs/planes/shuttles/trains. Oh, and Chris lost his wallet to spice things up a bit.

But we are SAFE. What an end to a peaceful 2015!!!

I had a full day of patients booked yesterday, my first day back after five days of Christmas vacation, and our wonderful reception team (yay Morgan, Emilia, and Jen!) stepped up to the plate for me and were busy rescheduling patients, fielding calls, and altering their shifts to accommodate my situation. They are the backbone of our clinic and I was reminded of that yet again.

You can now find me at Burlington Sports & Spine Clinic:

Today, 11:00am-7:30pm
Tomorrow (Dec 31st): 8:30am-1:30pm
Sat, January 2nd: 9:45am-1:00pm

Regular post-holiday hours resume January 4th.

And yes, I wrote this post late last night. The euphoria of being home kept me awake.

6 Comments February 11, 2014 drworobec

I am going to Las Vegas this weekend. To see Britney Spears. Yes, I’m serious.

britney pic

I have been a Britney fan for a long time, albeit sometimes embarrassingly so. “Hit Me Baby One More Time” was released in Oct/1998, at a time when I was in Second Year at the University of Calgary; I was young and impressionable, seeking independence and searching for my future, as most post-secondary students are. Britney could be heard everywhere I was, from residence dorms to nightclubs to track practice. Music has a way of becoming the soundtrack of memories, and many of my 20-something moments had a Britney song playing in the background.

But the best part, far better than any Britney show, is that I am meeting my two best friends there. These girls are like my sisters; they are my confidantes, my this-is-who-I-am-and-you-know-me-so-well companions. It’s going to be a short trip, only 48-hours from arrival to departure, jam-packed with dinners out, casinos, lounging poolside, shopping, and laughter. Oh so much laughter.

You see, yearly girls trips for the three of us have been an almost-annual tradition for 15 years. From Summer roadtrips to Vancouver to weekends in Edmonton to reunions at a small-town farm, these affectionately-named ASS Tours (Ashley/Sarah/Shannon) have been a constant in our lives, as our cities have changed and our families have grown. Our 2011 meet-up was in New York City. I will never forget it. I will never forget it because I was broken when I arrived and pieced together when I left. I had just suffered a devastating miscarriage and I left for NYC the day after my surgery. And as the three of us walked through Central Park and sobbed and hugged and comforted and shared, I felt myself start to heal. Piece by piece, they put me back together. They helped me put myself back together. As they have countless other times. They’re those kind of friends.

My husband teases me about this girls trip. He pokes fun at the teeny-bopper in me and smiles about my excitement. But I can assure you, Britney’s audience will be full of 30-something mothers, just like us, singing along with nostalgia in their voices and dancing with happiness in their hearts… side by side with friends.