My Trip Back to My Mom

In 1971, my brother, my two sisters and I were living in a foster home in Edmonton. The people we were living with were a very nice couple. We really enjoyed living there and we were quite surprised to come home one day to find out that we were being sent to live with my Mom.

Our Mom happened to be living in Vancouver, B.C. at the time. Anyways, we came home from school and our foster parents had our bags packed. We were told that we were going to catch a plane that very night to Vancouver. I remember I had mixed feelings at the time. On one hand I was so surprised that we were leaving, I didn't have any idea where my Mom was living at the time, or that she wanted us back living with her. I also remember that I was sad that I couldn't say good-bye to my friends, but at the same time, I was very happy that my Mom wanted us back and that we were going to ride on a big plane.

I remember that our plane was supposed to leave at 7 p.m. but we didn't leave Edmonton until 2:00 a.m. Once we got settled on the plan everyone went to sleep. I was too excited to sleep, so I stayed awake the whole trip. We got to Vancouver at 5 a.m., and I remember that we went outside at the airport and there was no snow on the ground, but lots of green grass (all this happened in January)! No one was at the airport waiting for us. I don't remember how it happened, but we ended up in a taxi and we went to my Mom's place.

To add to this excitement, I also found out that my Mom got married again and we had a new baby brother. I found out that my two older sisters were also living in Vancouver, so our long trip ended in a sort of family reunion.

- Maggie S.