I woke up to an empty bed. How lovely, the day after I’d just gotten married. Glen’s body clock had kicked in and pushed him out of bed at 8 or something ridiculous. He returned a little while later, we picked at the breakfast that arrived, got dressed, packed, said goodbye to Julian (who had to drive back to work in Toronto), and then rallied everyone to be in the lobby by 10:30 for an excursion to Niagara Falls.

I told everyone to meet at the boat but soon after getting in the car we found out that very few people actually wanted to go on the boat to check out the Falls. Lyndal etc and Nikki were coming down to meet us too, and we had two cars in convoy. After a quick discussion down a side alley with the convoy, we decided to head to the welcome centre where the Falls happen while Glen would stay at the boat loading area to inform others of where we were.

Within 30 seconds, the two cars behind me disappeared so it was only me, Dad, Helen, Christine and Gaye who arrived at the Falls. I had no idea where everyone else went, especially as most didn’t have their phones on roaming. By that stage, I’d given up. We went to check out the Falls, Anna arriving shortly after, and then headed into the restaurant for coffee and lunch. Glen arrived a little while later with Dan, then a few more stragglers. Nikki, Lyndal, Phil, Dylan and Simon had all gone on the boat.

We chatted, ate food, went to look at the Falls some more and wait for the boat people to arrive. Unfortunately, due to the odd planning I didn’t get any more time to spend with Lyndal and Nikki as we’d decided to head back to Toronto to beat the traffic. More goodbyes, yet it still feels like we’ll be seeing them next week and that they’re just down the road, not on the other side of the planet.

I drove back. Glen fell asleep pretty quickly. I think Dad and Helen did too. We got back into Toronto at about 3pm, unloaded the car, then Glen and I toddled off to return the suits and the car. All easily done.

In the evening, we had visitors again. Simon and Dan came by for dinner, as did Julian, then Albert, Deanne, Vicki, Bec and Alastair came by for more of a catch-up. Nearly all of them were leaving the next day so it was our last chance to see them, even though Glen and I were both struggling by this stage. I think the last guests left about 10, or maybe 11, and we climbed into bed.