Toronto Exhibition

I've always loved the Toronto Exhibition but I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've been there. I love it for the same reason I love carnivals, fairs, and parties...the garishness and happy noise thrills me.

The reasons I haven't actually attended the Ex very often are as follows: as a child I couldn't afford it; my husband didn't like it; I didn't have anyone to go with; now my knees won't let me do all that walking. Sometimes we just wait too long to do the things we enjoy.

As you get older, you become more aware that time is not on your side anymore so if there's something you really want to do, do it. I guess my biggest adventure these past few year has been my yearly trek to Florida where I know darned well how lucky I am to be able to spend my winters. I was talking to a friend the other day, saying that my Florida park just won't be the same once my closest friends stop going there and that's when I will probably spend my winters in the Canadian cold. I'll always have wonderful memories of my time there, though.

Of course, there are other places I wouldn't mind travelling to but now I have to consider this darned knee. One of my big regrets is that I didn't go to Italy when Shelley was living there but my best holiday was when Dennis and I went to China on business. That's an experience that few of us get to have and it sort of made up for the trips I never took.

As far as the Toronto Exhibition goes, I can live without it now but in the back of my mind will be sweet memories of that garish, gaudy, loud place. I did enjoy it.

Note: Kim called and said she'd go to the Exhibition with me. It's too bad that my knees say no thanks but I told her we could go to one of the fall fairs instead. My favorite is the Simcoe fair and that's the second weekend of October. Hopefully, I'll be well healed by then if I have the surgery in early to mid September.