#MicroblogMondays: Lunch date

I was reading a great blog post (by Kathleen, who also blogs at Life Without Baby) about carving out some time to linger over a glass of wine and a nice lunch. It reminded me I actually had the chance to do just that this past weekend, albeit in a somewhat more social setting. (And here I just wrote a hand-wringing post about my lack of a social life, lol.)

To set the scene, a couple of years ago, my genealogist cousins & I connected with another cousin interested in the family history -- and two years ago, he and his wife came to our family reunion in Iowa.  He is my 4th cousin (we share the same great x3 grandparents;  our great-great grandfathers were brothers), from Scotland, and about 10 years older than me. He & his wife are delightful people, both online & even more so in real life. (They have three adult children, one grandchild and two more on the way.) They have lived, worked and travelled extensively around the world, but have spent very little time in Canada -- but this spring, they made reservations for a three-day/two-night train trip across western Canada, from Vancouver through the scenic Rocky Mountains & Prairies to Winnipeg. They managed to have lunch on Friday with my parents there, then got on a plane to Toronto and had lunch with me & dh on Saturday before flying back across the Atlantic later that night (!).

Dh & I do not know the area around the airport very well, but happily, an outlet of one of our favourite chain restaurants was attached to the hotel near the airport where they were staying. We were supposed to meet them in the lobby, and we arrived a few minutes early -- but they were already watching for us and emerged from the hotel as we were walking from the car across the parking lot to give us big hugs. We spent the next 2.5 hours chatting and laughing and telling stories over drinks, lunch & later dessert & coffee/tea. I was actually exhausted afterward -- but exhilarated too.

I need more lunches like that. :)

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.