Where We Left Off

Victoria, BC

The photo below was taken at the Wells family homestead near Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan, in about 1950.  Six Wells sisters are pictured with their father Robert.  On the left is a mob of assorted cousins, looking like mischief personified.

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Progeny and spouses of three of the Wells sisters, Phyllis, Patricia and Grace are together this weekend. 

Our connection as cousins has waxed and waned over the decades, but never faltered.  Thousands of miles, busy careers and family duties sometimes make it difficult to stay in touch, but now that we have most of those obstacles behind us, we are making up for lost time.

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It is almost shocking how easy it is to pick up where we left off, even with ten, twenty, or thirty years intervening.    

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We met in Victoria, BC for an extended weekend.  We dusted off family recipes and cooked food our moms would be proud of, we uncorked a few bottles of happy juice, and covered a lot of conversational ground the past few days. Most of the stories were retellings of family lore, they never disappoint. 

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Best story of the week:

Cousin Lawrence was a funeral home director in Moose Jaw for many years.  The hearse they were using was getting old and unreliable, so Lawrence travelled to Ohio to pick up a new one.  Sharon flew down with him to accompany Lawrence on the long drive home.

The couple decided to do some shopping while they were in the USA.  They had plenty of room in the new vehicle, so they picked up some household items, including a new barbecue, which they loaded in the back of the hearse. 

There is a mountain of paperwork required to import a modified vehicle into Canada.  Lawrence had all the necessary bills of sale, bills of lading, and customs forms filled out in advance.  The couple also had an inventory of their personal purchases, with receipts.  As organized as they were, Lawrence anticipated that the import and customs process for the modified Cadillac would take some time. 

Lawrence and Sharon drove the hearse to the border crossing early, prepared to deal with protracted customs procedures.

Lawrence’s telling of the story gives it the proper nuance, but it went something like this:

Customs Officer:   Good morning.  Where are you going with that?

Lawrence:    Moose Jaw. It’s new, we are importing it.

Customs Officer:   What is in the box in the back?

Lawrence:    A barbecue.

Customs Officer:   What is that for? Never mind, I have heard enough. You can go.

Lawrence:    Don’t you want to see the import paperwork?

Customs Officer:   No. Just get the Hell out of here.

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The second-best story of the weekend also involved Sharon and Lawrence.  Their son Curtis is a biologist and horticulturist; Curtis manages Victoria Butterfly Gardens.  The vivarium has a beautiful collection of butterflies, and much more.  There are fish, turtles, colourful birds, frogs, and other feathered, slimy, and scaly creatures. Some of the beasts are rescue animals, confiscated from exotic animal smugglers.

Curtis sometimes gets calls from police asking if their facility will hold contraband animals while authorities prosecute the dealers.  Several years ago, he got a call about a pair of pink flamingos.  The police told Curtis that the birds would have to be euthanized if Victoria Butterfly Garden couldn’t take them, so Curtis accepted the birds. 

As a tribute to his parents, Curtis named them Sharon and Lawrence. 

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Val, the “youngest” member of our group had a birthday while we were together. 

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Wells Cousins – Russ, Sharon, Val, Kevin, Don and Brad.

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I don’t know when we will get together again.  Soon, I hope.  Whenever it is, I know for sure that the Wells cousins will pick up …

… where we left off.

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