I was in Calgary this weekend for my cousin Jennifer’s wedding. I knew time would be short and, for what must have been two weeks, I debated over whether I should tell the Pink Lady I’d be in town. Why the hesitation? Well, because it really sucked being in L.A. a few months ago not being able to connect with Jeff, so there was a part of me that thought, “if I don’t say anything, there will be less dissapointment for everyone”.
But eventually I realized the biggest dissappointment would have come from not trying to meet Dawn so, very last minute, I let her know I’d be coming and asked if she’d like to get together for a little run. Not surprisingly, and in characteristic warm Pink Lady fashion, Dawn let me know that not only would she be happy to join me on Sunday morning, but that she’d be bringing Karen as well (details of the email conversation are over at her place)! “Way cool!”, I thought, and promised Dawn I’d call her bright and early Sunday morning.
So, we arrived in Calgary late Friday evening and went to my cousin’s beautiful wedding at the spectacular world-class Spruce Meadows on Saturday.
I woke up early Sunday morning to follow-through on my promise to call Dawn. It almost didn’t happen since I couldn’t find her damn phone number! It took me three trips to the car before I finally found it stuffed into a box of Timbits we’d bought on the way to Calgary. argh.
Anyway, I went back into the house with number in hand and proceeded to call Dawn. I dialed the number and was greeted by the exact amount of warmth and cheeriness I envisioned since “meeting” her in blogland so many months ago. Dawn confirmed they were still coming and 30 minutes later, a white mini-van was pulling up in front of my cousin’s house…
There was a lot of pink in that van lemmee tell ya and I had NO problem figuring out it was them! 
Hugs were given and conversation easily ensued. Dawn and Karen are lovely, lovely people – they were exactly as I’d imagined them.
Karen drove us to a dowtown YMCA where we walked to an absolutely beautiful running path. Dawn and I brought our camera’s. I got one shot on Lori’s digital before getting the dreaded “I’m full” message (grrr) so Dawn and Karen began clicking away. It was then when I realized Dawn was dragging behind taking pictures of my…um, er…behind. She’s quite a little stinker you see.
We got to the chosen spot where it became easy to see that Dawn and Karen were very proud of Calgary’s running paths. And you know what? They have good reason to be proud – their trails are stunning.
We ran three kilometers in some cold rain. Not very far but it was really more about the meeting than the run so afterward we headed off for a coffee where we got to know each other a bit better and then it was back to my cousin’s where I introduced them to Lori, the kids, my cousin and his “bo”.
It was a terrific morning. I’m so glad I eventually made the right decision and that Karen and Dawn agreed to hooking up! They are lovely, warm ladies I’m so glad I had a chance to meet. 
