The Last Trip to the Ex

I am so surprised that I haven’t written about the CNE even once in 463 posts!

Ever since my friend Kay moved to Toronto 7 years ago, the trip to the Ex has been an annual event with Hans and her boy who is 11 months younger than Hans. The boys were 9 and 10 when we went to the Ex for the 1^st time in August 2018. That was also the year ASid had his 1^st paid summer job and it was coincidentally at the CNE. We were also joined by our friend C (Manda) and her 2 boys.

At the CNE, there is always a person who will take a wager to guess someone’s age or weight. If they guess within an acceptable range, they win. If not, someone gets a prize. I decided to win a stuffy that summer in 2018. I had just turned 44 and 3 years prior to that I was mistaken for the mother of a woman who was 8 years older than me! I knew I was going to win whatever prize I wanted! And I did! The person, who was a young lady, thought I was 56. Yes, for real.

This year, I felt like it was going to be the last trip to the Ex. So, partially for nostalgic reasons and partially because the guy was so entertaining, I decided to lose some money. I told the guy that I don’t even want a prize! At which point, my friend Kay interrupted me and let it be known that we would take a prize. I told her to be my guest. I also told the guy that people are always overestimating my age, and I am used to it. I told him that he was going to lose. This guy was probably my age and a total charmer. He took off to have a consultation with the lemonade guy, and then he comes back with a sticky note with a number written on it. Then, it was the moment of truth. I said 51 and he had 46. What?? That had never happened before. So, this guy’s free advice to me was to laugh more as that makes people look younger!

As my friend and I walked away with a small stuffy, I remarked how the boys are getting older, and we may have to come back to the CNE on our own next year. My friend looked at me like I was insane and let me know that we can find a better place to go to than the CNE. I guess that’s true. It is bittersweet. Little Hans took forever to explore the grounds of the CNE. The current version of Hans, who is taller than his Momley, makes the grounds seem smaller than ever before.

This is the first of many goodbyes as my little guy inches his way to adulthood. 

Addendum:

This is a correction to the 1^st sentence of this post. I wrote about the CNE, for the 1^st time, exactly 7 years ago. So, this is the 2^nd post about the CNE.