Thoughts From an Empty Mind
By Judi Rosen
© Copyright Main Street Magazine, February 2010 Isse
Canadian ISSN:1920-4299
Hello Main Street readers. I'm the new gal around here and that's a heavy burden. A million ideas have crossed my mind about this first foray into article writing. You see, I'm basically a writer of prose, verse and thoughts or ideas. Well…I write terrific speeches too!
So ruminating over this, a thought struck me, the Winter Olympics are in Vancouver,
BC this month and as an American from California, I've been lucky enough to have made many a trip to your wonderful city. Though my hopes of going to the Games won't come true, I know I'll be glued to my TV for 14 days never-the-less. I've always been amazed how we on the West Coast of two different countries are so very much alike. Even the accents are almost the same.
I want to tell you about an indelible incident in your wonderful city, which will forever live in my heart. I was in Vancouver on that black day of 9/11, just having returned from an Alaska cruise. We were rousted out by Canadian and US Customs and told a sketchy story of the events in NY and DC that morning.
We were scrutinized, our passports and ID's gone over twice and luggage checked. Herded onto our buss for the airport, we were informed that our FAA was grounding all flights into and out of the US from all over the world and though our flight was on Alaska Airlines, it may not be able to leave. I was with my best friend and as we saw the horror on TV in the airport, we clung tight to each other and cried along with all the other Californians in our group. We were scared for not only us, but for what we didn't know.
We thought if we got a coffee and talked it out, we would calm each other. I can't begin to tell you, how, when Canadian people in the airport found out we were Americans, they rallied about all of us. We were not allowed to pay for our coffee; we were offered lodging in people's homes, offered money in case we had little or no Canadian dollars, people wanted to buy us things that had preceded us to our plane and were locked awaiting Customs at LAX.
A nice couple wanted to drive us around to get a room at a hotel if we were grounded and offered to pay for it. Someone brought us lunch and a cold beer, college students asked if we had relatives in NY and offered to call them for us, as our cell phones did not work there. No one would let us buy a thing, and everyone wanted us to please let them know if we got home safe. Rumours were running rampant that the Golden Gate Bridge was mined and LA was next to be hit.
A Doctor who had just returned from San Diego, from a meeting bought us ice cream and when he found out I managed a GI medical practice, and that was his specialty, we had a wonderful back and forth on the merits of how often one should have a Colonoscopy. I also found out a lot about the Canadian Health care system.
We were not the only US Citizens taken under your wing…our table mates on the cruise were from Florida, and treated the same way. The husband was an FBI Agent and his Bureau was desperate for him to get to Washington. He saw a pilot coming from a flight and stopped him and asked if he knew where to get a charter. This generous man helped him to charter a plane, while on a 3 way call to the FBI in Washington guaranteeing to pay for it. The charter pilot had participated in Air force War Games in the US years before and offered to do this gratis.
I could go on, but how much gratitude do you need to understand the place I hold in my heart for those Vancouverites who never thought about themselves, but about some Americans who had suffered a horrible loss.
Very late in the day we got permission to fly home. From beneath the wing of our plane, against the night sky, we saw the array of lights telling us this was Los Angeles and home. But as the rest of our weary shipmates stepped onto US soil, we all sent up a cheer for the Canadians who had, for a moment in time, become one of us and we of them...
