HAVE YOU EVER...: Have You Ever Been to Bouctouche?

Accompanied by some Acadian Music!!!

Hey yoooo!!! SO I haven't written in a while mainly because I've been running around like an ant that's ready to be stepped on. My birthday just recently passed (the big Christ year...33!!!!!) and what better way to celebrate than to kick it off with an East Coast roadie! WOOOOHOOO! My mother, brother, his girlfriend Erin and I were all going down for my cousins wedding and I was super excited!!!!! This road trip was a bit different from my last ones due to the fact that I decided to drive up by myself. They went up a day before. The main reasons for that were:

1) I got in a fight with my Mom and probably would have thrown myself out of the car at the 2 hour mark of our trip. Period. The trip was great though with her and I :)
2) My birthday was the day before my family was to leave...aatttttt 6 a.m. Eff that. I would have been hungover...sleep deprived...and unprepared. And hungover.
3) I was unprepared.
4) I wanted to experience the liberation of driving by myself somewhere and seeing if I could actually arrive at my destination relatively in tact.
5) I wanted to see how long it would have taken before I went stir crazy and started to talk to my steering wheel...and or the imaginary passenger beside me...and or the people beside me in traffic. And or the dust bunnies floating around in my car. There ARE one hundred million of them so conversation would have certainly been continuous.
6) I wanted a chance to be with myself and reflect on my life!!! And reflect I freakin did. Definite changes needing to be made.

So off I went on September 1st at 5:30 a.m....my 33rd year in full effect and my eyes barely open. My dog wanted to attack me as I said goodbye which wasn't the kind of goodbye I had hoped for. Bitch. I had gotten up at 4 a.m. to pack the rest of my stuff which was still hanging up wet from the AFTERNOON before. Like seriously?? Awesome. I did the last minute check around to see if all was OK for my friend Deana who was staying at my place to look after the dog. I even cleaned for her. I almost didn't want to leave because I was enjoying my clean apartment so much *sigh...I am such a great friend* It was still dark out when I left and I looked like crap. I drove down the 401 with nothing but open road in front of me and a sense of absolute freedom! The sun was starting to come up, traffic was non-existent, my music was blaring, my voice was starting to come back which made it much easier to screech out the songs from my Ipod, and my eyes were becoming less foggy. I passed through Ontario snacking on all the shit I bought and sailed into Quebec with ease, which is where I unfortunately ran into my first snag. As I was belting out the tunes and loving life, my foot was also loving its life. The more I got excited the more my foot got excited and the more the gas peddle was getting excited. It was SOOO strange how that was all happening. It was too late before I noticed the cop car sitting to my left waiting for easy targets like me to nail (and not in a sexual way). Fucker. Of course being from Ontario and as my friend pointed out, having a Leafs border around my license plate, I was fucked. I wonder if he noticed the expired sticker as well and if my unpaid Quebec parking ticket from three years ago would come up on his records. I quickly slowed down to 110 and slowly switched over to the right lane. I was hoping he would just leave me alone, but theeeen his stupid ass colourful lights came on and I had to move onto the shoulder. I slowly opened my window staring at him all doe eyed, batting my eyelashes a bit.

Cop: "You were going 128 and it's 100 here (pretty sure I was going 140 but whatever dude)."

Me: "I know....I'm trying to get to New Brunswick (yelling that excitedly! maybe he would get excited too I thought!) You should really get off the side of the road because there are a lot of trucks flying by."

My fake concern didn't work. He went into his car to write me a ticket. Eff man. I tried not to let this bring my mood down, and started to pay better attention to my speed demon ways (which really meant...140 140 140 oops I'm going 140. 120 120 130 135 140...oops I'm going 140....) I took a power nap at 3:30 for 15 minutes and I felt more alive for the second leg of my drive. I crossed the New Brunswick border at 6:30 and a half hour before I reached my destination I got lost. It was 10:30 by that time, and I went down the wrong highway having a slight panic attack on the phone with my cousin. It was dark, the road signs said I was on my way to PEI, and I was afraid of moose and deer attacking me. BAH! I pulled off on the side of the road with cold sweats and a palpitating heart. My cousin directed me back to where I was supposed to go which I half listened to in the midst of my panic. Thankfully I wasn't far off from the correct highway exit. A half hour later I MADE IT!!!!!! And I was alive!!!!! My cousins and my mother were waiting up for me relieved that I didn't die. I felt happy that I accomplished something and it was so great to see my family.

I've been going to Bouctouche since I was a kid. My mother's side all live there, and it's one of those towns where you have to pray to god that you're not making out with one of your family members (its pretty small). It is a half hour away from Moncton, and is absolutely magical. We are the offspring of the Bouctouche Mofia...a clan made up of some powerful sisters whom can make news travel within 5 seconds of the news being delivered to one of them. I feel quite lucky to be a part of this family. There is so much creativity and hard work that runs through our blood and so much love. We used to have amazing bonfires at my cousins cottage on the beach with all the neighbouring cottages joining in, and of course a few cute boys attending (that were probably my cousins). I remember having crushes on Michel and Julian, and trying to be set-up with a guy named Maurice. Those were the days. We would make trips to the beach (trying to avoid the disgusting jellyfish in the Bay of Fundy), visit my grandparents and my great-aunts and cousins (who tried desperately to teach us Chiac..which is really Frenglish - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiac), and we would stop in at The Dixie Lee for some greasy food. I remember this one summer my cousins Danielle and Michelle and my sister and I all went into Moncton to watch Free Willy. I would say we were probably 14 or so and when we sat down, there was a bunch of teenagers that sat down beside us and in front of us. There was this guy that sat beside me and the whole movie we would have our one arm and leg pressed together. Oh Free Willy. Oh boys. Such innocence. So many great memories. I was lucky to have two of my best friends come down with me one year as we all went on an East coast road trip. It was nice to show them how I spent many of my summers and have them meet my family.

The next four days of this years trip were amazing. We couldn't have asked for better weather, and we were even able to go to the beach and chill out for a few of the days. We made day trips to Moncton and to PEI which was super fun, and no one killed each other in the car which was a bonus! The wedding for my cousin Denis and his now wife Kristin was beautiful. It was intimate and full of love (and I cried which I don't normally do at weddings)! They had a great band, some really cool hand made pinwheel centre pieces (in lieu of flowers!) and I was able to catch up with all of my cousins I haven't seen since last year. A lovely evening for sure and I'm so happy for them!!!!

A couple of days after the wedding I may have driven with my parking break on for probably 15 minutes..up a hill...unnoticed until my brother and Erin heard a loud screeching sound. I didn't even realize that sound was coming from my car! When we got out of the car there was smoke coming out of both back tires and a lovely burning smell. God damnit. We had just come back from the beach so my mind wasn't in the right place clearly!

I feel hopeful for the year to come :) After having an incredible two hour conversation with my cousin Sylvio the last day I was in Bouctouche, I was able to put my life into perspective. Things are certainly shifting in a good direction so here is to an amazing year 33!!!!! I arrived back in Ontario 11:30 Tuesday night after an 18 hour drive that went surprisingly well (minus getting lost in Montreal for a bit). Can't wait for the next time :)

Some pics for your viewing pleasure: