Best story of the week!

I started to post this story on my Facebook, and I realized it was too good to shorten or edit. I will start with the back story. About nine years ago Tim(hubby) came to Fort McMurray for an interview, and the company paid for me to come out to see the city as well. At that point in my life, to fly out here was one of the longest times I had been on a plane, and by the time we landed my ears were killing me. We got our rental car, and randomly drove into Fort McMurray. After checking out some of the city, I was needed some tylenol, and told Tim to pull into the next drugstore. When I went in, I went to the pharmacist and asked if there was anything else that I could take that would be effective on the pressure in my ears. She asked where I had flown from, and when I said Halifax, she asked where I was from in Nova Scotia. When she said she was from Port Hastings, I was taken aback. At the time we were living on the Long Stretch Road, which was about four kilometres from Port Hastings. Her name was Joy MacLean, and when I got back in the car, I told Tim that the first person I met in Fort McMurray was from home, and she had the same last name as my maiden name. I was pretty sure it was a sign that I would be fine if we decided to make the move if there was such great people in town. 

Tonight, I went door knocking in Wood Buffalo, and a woman answered the door, and came out on the step to chat. She said she was from Cape Breton, and that we had mutual friends. One of her best friends is Cathy Burns, and Cathy had brought me cookies at Christmas time all the way from Cape Breton. When she said she went to school in Mabou at the convent I couldn't believe it. I had worked at the convent all through high school. I asked her if she knew Neil MacDonald from Port Hood, and Bernie MacLean? Yes she said, and I informed her they were my uncles. She named many others she knew, and we both wondered at how we had not met before.

I asked her what her name was, and she said, "Joy MacLean".  I couldn't believe it. After all these years, and all those mutual friends, I had not seen her since that first day in the drugstore. 

I have been trying to knock on as many doors as I can in Fort McMurray to connect with the voters, but I know I will not get to do as many as I would like to do. Knocking on that door tonight, and getting to share with Joy how she welcomed me to this city was like a full circle moment. She welcomed me, and without even knowing, made me feel like I would be comfortable here in Fort McMurray. And out of the thousands of doors that I could have knocked on, I knocked on hers, and she again encouraged me, and made me feel like I am on the right track. I am moving in the direction that I should be, and it was a great way to end the day. Thank you Joy, you are as beautiful as I remember, and I am so happy we were able to reconnect.