Taking a break from the minutiae of chronicling our travels on the highways and bi-ways of Queensland, I wanted to be sure to clearly record October 12 as a day of truly momentous occasions. This was the day that Linton and James would successfully complete their first 10km race together. This was the day that Alex and Colin would successfully negotiate the perils and predicament of "hosting" a teenage babysitter. This would be the day that we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving with a lovely dinner once again hosted by our friends Alex and Simon Davies. And this would ultimately be the day where Alex Darling, with the help of a healthy bite into a Macintosh apple, would lose his first tooth! And that was only Sunday!
Having had a less than stellar morning on Saturday trying to get the guys going with tennis lessons and a soccer skills clinic we were hoping that Sunday might not repeat the drama. Mom and dad were going to be off early, cabbing it downtown toward the MCG to try and successfully realize the end of what had been a fairly relaxed training regimen...or in James's case get this darn 10k out of the way! We were leaving the boys with a babysitter for certainly the first time in Oz and for one of the few times ever in their lives where that person was under thirty. The sitter was a teenage neighbour of ours from around corner who had actually been friends with the previous tenants. We were very confident in her abilities - certainly moreso than our own ability not to worry. Nevertheless, it had to be done and after an endless series of instructions we raced downtown to join the 20,000 other runners competing in the various events connected to the Melbourne Marathon.
My nerves about surviving and completing the run were not helped in anyway when literally the first image we saw after stepping foot outside our cab, was parademics giving first aid to a runner who had collapsed during the half-marathon. A few blocks later there was another young runner losing her lunch at the side of the road...I was beginning to wonder what I had got myself into. After warming up for twenty minutes and convincing myself that I did not need to use the port-o-john, we got into position on the startline with five minutes to go. Only when we had no more than about three minutes to go did my bladder decide it was, in fact, full. But then we were off. I would have to deal with such things later.
The run itself was a lot of fun. Linton and I both felt strong after some significant carbo-loading the night before and no doubt our superior training program - not! We managed to work our way through a very clogged route without losing each other or our respective lunches. The route was flat and scenic and our only complaints would be the limited access to water and a few logjams where we actually had to stop running. Having been at one time in my younger, apparently much wiser years, quite opposed to the life of the runner, I must admit to getting quite into the whole scene. In particular, I found the need to pass slower runners and a growing obsession with my finishing time as things that propelled me down the course well out of my projected pace and making my full bladder a distant memory. Despite the odd moment of wondering when we might make the "turn for home", we eventually made a very exciting turn onto the field of the MCG with several thousand people cheering us all on. If there was an extra kick in the last 400 metres then I would admit it was all for the fans!
So we did it. And so did the boys, as we arrived home to hear that things had gone swimmingly and that there was a good chance that sitter and sittees might all agree to do it again some time soon. We didn't have much time to lose however as we needed to shower, shave and prepare the carrots for our trip down to Toorak and dinner with the Davies. This was another splendid occasion and Alex had gone out of her way to make a turkey dinner complete with stuffing, gravy and pumpkin pie. The boys were very well behaved - veritable princes in their Thanksgiving day outfits and thrown into a mix of four little girls under four all in their respective princess oufits. We had the pleasure of meeting Simon's parents, brother and sister-in-law and their two gorgeous daughters and the feeling of family around the table complete with witty banter and family memories gave us a strong feeling of family that we miss back home.
The surprise of the night was when Alex Darling appeared in the kitchen with a rather surprised look on his face clutching the first ever baby tooth to depart from his face. Thanks to a big bite of apple the tooth had been rather violently coaxed into a public appearance and Allie looked quite confused by the whole concept. Once we were home and safely tucked into bed, the tooth was safely stowed under pillow along with a wonderfully innocent anticipation for the arrival of the tooth fairy. This was a neat moment to watch and listen to as Alex, in a way that only he can, described exactly the conditions that were necessary for the safe and successful exchange of tooth and toonie. Priceless - as was this whole day. A day that in many ways seemed only able to be manufactured in Melbourne, Australia.
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