John Kitsco

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Autumn is here. Its a good time to take out old photographs and think about some memorable times.  One such time was back when the kids were just on the crossover point from being children to (gosh) being teenagers.  We had a rusty old 1973 brown coloured truck. The tires were poor. But nonetheless I
got excited about an advertisement for a little green and white
Scottie trailer. It was actually quite small and the kids needed to use the bunks...but the great part was a little table that folded out and we could all sit around enjoying breakfast or a puzzle.
And here we were, going over the rockies heading for Vancouver Island. Our stop in Calgary was unexpected with
the radiator quitting on us. So after major repairs we resumed the journey. What was so enjoyable were the stops along the way, parked at the side of the highway having a little break,
relaxing in our Scottie trailer.

At a campsite on Vancouver Island, it happened. I started up a
conversation with Marv and Pat, who became dear friends over
the years. Marv and Pat lived in B.C. and wanted to show us
their trailer. It was a hot day. I leaned on Marv's trailer and
felt a surge of pain in my hand. I thought it was simply the heat
from the sun on the trailer. Not. A wasp had stung me on the
inside of my thumb on my left hand.  No problem ( so I thought)
as Marv and myself walked into the laundromat nearby and
continued our conversation. There it happened. The ceiling
started to move, I felt warm and disoriented. I kept telling my
wife (who now was beside me in the laundromat) that my buttons on my shirt seemed tight, especially the top button, but
she reminded me the button was undone. I started to black out.
From here on the rest was unclear. My wife told me that Marv
caught me before I hit the floor. Pat (Marv's wife) brought over
some antihistimine. The fire department was nearby and soon
I had an oxygen mask on my face, then I was in the ambulance
on the way to Duncan. Marv followed in his truck with my wife
and daughers. Obviously I was allergic to a wasp and was
finding this out. The hospital staff was terrific, even the one
nurse who commented on my dirty fingers (sorry Miss Nurse-
fingers get dirty when you are out camping...)

From the trip on the ferry across the ocean to our journey
back through the rockies I had one badly swollen arm.
So I pretty much drove, cranked the trailer and even did a little trout fishing all with my right hand.

Back home I went to a specialist who confirmed my allergy so
every summer the epi- pen is a close companion.

But we had friendship with Pat and Marv and discovered recently
Pat has cancer. Over the years we visited with our friends and
recall that one never knows how a vacation is going to turn out...

Our Scottie trailer has retired into someone else's yard, the
kids have grown up and yet some of these early years bring back
a few smiles.