Today is the 26th birthday of my brother Scott. When my mom brought him home from the hospital he was long and skinny. In photos, he looks like an alien. My aunt Dodie, my mom's sister who lived close to us at the time, used to cringe and say to my mom, "Oh, cover up his legs. He looks like a Biafran."
This past weekend the Duck and I travelled to Victoria to visit Scott and we acted like tourists in the city where he's lived for the past year and a half. We walked around the inner harbour and saw planes and helicopters fly overhead as part of the D-Day celebrations. About half a dozen tall ships sailed into the harbour and docked in front of the Empress Hotel and the BC Legislature, not the BC Parliament, as so many folks call it.
While we walked we often took shortcuts along paths that passed between buildings. One time we came upon a wedding, with a brass band playing in the back yard of what used to be St. Ann's School for Girls. A couple in their 60s stood on the back porch surveying the scene and Scott remarked that it felt like we'd dropped into a scene from The Great Gatsby. A day later we walked past a hotel called The Great Gatsby Mansion. We bought slurpees and watched a bi-plane circle in the sky above.
Looking back, the weekend slid by smooth and easy as a summer's day. We didn't have a big blowout bash, but we barbecued in Beacon Hill Park and had some friends over and then walked to The (Flying) Beagle pub to watch the third period of the Stanley Cup Finals. Some folks left and others arrived late and it was nice to meet the friends and get a glimpse of the life my brother has made for himself.
We ended the weekend eating Thai food on a patio. As we tucked into our meals my mom called to tell us she was selling the house that Scott and I had lived in with her for the last years we'd live in Winnipeg. The sign was going up on Monday (today). It seemed like things were changing right in front of our eyes. It seemed like just the right thing to add to complete the mood - happy and sad, optimistic and apprehensive all at the same time.
Happy Birthday Scott!
Posted by James Sherrett at June 7, 2004 08:10 AM