If you have grown up in a small town, like me, you dreamed of bigger and better things. It only dawns on you many yrs later as an adult how lucky you were to have had that experience. I am one such person. Living in a small skiing town in the BC Rockies gave me many memories to draw from....some good, and some bad...I would love to share some of the very good.
Fernie BC was a small town of 6000 people. We moved there when I was 5 yrs old. It also happened to be the town where my god parents lived. Ed and Simone Spence. Simone is my mother’s sister. My aunt & uncle owned “Ed’s Sport Center” the sporting goods store on Fernie’s main street.
The store always fascinated me. It wasn’t a huge store but boy, it was chalked full to the brim! My uncle had all sorts of sport equipment, you name it he had it. Skis & boots, skates & hockey sticks, fishing poles & lures of all colours with hooks that could hurt if u dared to touch them. There was also hunting gear & guns and sportswear of all kinds ...so you can imagine how much fun it would be to go see my aunt and uncle at their store.
As I look back I realize how inconvenient it must have been to have a niece pop in after school as often as I surely did but they never let on. I remember feeling special because I could stand behind the counter (being related to the owners of course). My uncle was always patient and usually had a mischievous smile when he teased me about some of the escapades they brought me on. I have stories....but I digress ...
Uncle Ed was soft spoken. Not quiet really, but certainly not a loud man. He was a great dad who was involved in his son’s sports and supported their teams. He always joked with a straight face. If you didn’t know him, it would probably take you a moment to realize he was kidding. If he teased you, he liked you. Uncle Ed was stern but never mean....I don’t think I ever saw him mad...heard him talk to his sons with a TONE a time or two but they deserved it, they were boys after all....I of course never got the TONE...I was the perfect niece...
So many lives were touched by my uncle’s uncle’s store. When I put a brief message about my uncles passing and the store in Fernie, my heart warmed at some of the comments made. One shared that she got her 1st 10 speed bike at that store, another bought her first skis...A hockey player said he couldn’t even count how many hockey sticks he bought from my uncle or how many times he got his skates sharpened there. Another added that Uncle Ed supported the hockey team that he and my cousin played for together. If you didn’t see my uncle at the front of the store, u knew he was in the back either waxing skis or repairing a bike...or the sparks were flying as he sharpened your skates...I used to love the smell of the tools, wax, grease and oil combined in that back room...I remember it still.
Back to some stories...
I was so lucky to be their goddaughter. I had the privilege of going along on some of their short trips away. Ok, I had to share them with my cousins, but it wasn’t all bad! You know how boys can be....Anyway...memories were made to NEVER be lived down...when I say Never I mean Never! They are part of my DNA so it’s a good thing they are precious to me.
One time I brought my little bag, bulging with clothes for a 2 day trip. My aunt and uncle couldn’t help but ask what in the world I had brought. Well...clothes I said. So my aunt smilingly said, ‘Let’s have a look”.....She pulled out 1, 2, 3, ....4, 5, 6...becoming incredulous as she counted just the number of TOPS I had for our 2 day trip....7,8,9.....by this time I think she had tears of laugher in her eyes as finally she counted the last 10, 11, 12,.....13! YES...13 TOPS! For a 2 day trip.....All I could say is....I just couldn’t decide!! So I brought them all......(I think I was 11)
First breakfast in a restaurant...the waitress asked me how I wanted my eggs ...I had no idea ...so I just said “Fried”.....Of course my cousins guffawed to no end at that one...
I hold dear my memories with my god parents ...and yes, even my cousins...sure they were boys but they were pretty good to me if I’m to be honest.....just don’t tell them that.
One trip to the states, we stayed in a hotel that had a pool...not only had I never stayed in a hotel before, but omg! A pool!...So of course I am so excited I dive head first in the shallow end, thankfully it’s more of a belly flop because I scraped my chin on the bottom of the pool and came up bleeding.....I still have the scar to prove it. My uncle was right there consoling me with the fact that as soon as I jumped in the pool, all the water jumped out! ...to which I always replied when he teased me...”Oh Uncle Ed!” giggling of course.
I was never to live down that story...even hearing it once more 4 yrs ago when Ed & Simone took a cruise that stopped in Quebec City for a full day. I was thrilled! I hadn’t seen them in far too many yrs to count and this gave us the opportunity to spend a whole day together and for them to meet my husband Chris.....Who was REGAILED with the pool story at the first opportunity of course. I listened with a warm heart in remembrance of good times.
As I reminisce about these precious child hood memories I hold in my heart that they are mine to keep for ever as I say one last time “Oh Uncle Ed.....I will miss you.....
