The Perfect Ride

Rebecca provided the perfect ride for me from Victoria to Calgary.

She found the cheapest WestJet price, which luckily went from Victoria to Edmonton and then a second leg from Edmonton to Calgary.

I kept my eye on the ground as soon as the plane lifted from the tarmak,  looking at the propeller and at the same time the land which seemed only inches away from me as we rolled over the ocean, then across mountains and to the flat plains of northern Alberta.

I was sure I could see the North Saskatchewan River and finally Edmonton in the distance.

Spring has not arrived in Alberta.

Anywhere.

At least not in the parts I saw.

The white ground was criss-crossed with dark lines rural roads or sometimes windrows of trees protecting the small farm houses and yards from the wind.

 I could see cliffs, maybe those were deep valleys at some points.

And then there is also the ox-bow shape of rivers that are changing course.

One looked like the perfect example of textbook in my first year Geology course, the ox-bows breaking up and leaving a horse-shoe shape as the river finally took another course.

"I start to worry if I am in the right seat."

I have to say I was curious about the people who were boarding the plane.

At the back where I was sitting, there were a disproportionate number of old people who just couldn’t find the right seat.

If they had seat #15, then they were found sitting in seat #16.

If they were to sit in seat D, then they were in F.

And the other set of old people who discovered them sitting in the wrong seats had to raise their voice to be heard.

 Not that the people who were in the wrong seats were unwilling to change seats.

Just that they couldn’t hear another person talking to them until voices were almost yelling.

And then the pace at which they can get up and moved seats is very s-l-o-w.

I love my cohort "people growing old".

Rebecca drove me to the airport after she had finished teaching her Business Associations class.

Part of the lesson was about the fiduciary duties of directors and cases where the directors could be held liable.

I was sobered.

Not that Glen doesn’t often bring this up in our Directors Meetings, but I was remembering again not to take duties lightly.

The students are fun to watch in class.

 I try not to give them eye contact, only out of the corner of my eye.

I was watching one in particular, one student who, when he catches onto an idea he nods his head up and down. He can be read like a book.

Rebecca said that there are two girls that sit behind that man who whisper a lot during class.

She said it is distracting, the quiet conversations that they keep having with each other.  Distracting, just because there is motion going on and she wonders if it is because they have a question. Then she sees one poke the other and suspects that it is because they have anticipated where the story is going, in terms of law.  They are having a group meeting during the whole class.  The two of them bouncing ideas off of the professor, but only with each other, so as not to disrupt the class.

I watched Rebecca prepare the class for the final exam in two weeks, trying to calm them so that they can come to the exam and really show her what they know. 

They can bring their Business Associations text, as heavily annotated as they wish.

Added to that they can bring two 8 ½ x 14 pieces of paper on which they have written all of the notes they want to keep, in any font they choose, though not in a font so small that they also have to bring in a magnifying glass.

One student asked her, “Is it against the rules of the university for us to bring in so much material to the exam.”

Rebecca confirmed that the accommodations that she is giving them are within the scope of exam writing.

At least the ones she gives.

She also added that if they do their work well, they will keep this text by their side for the next ten years of their practice.

One last charming point.

 One of the students came up to ask a question and began it with “Professor?”

Just that word with a question implied was so respectful to her.

I was taken aback.

I might begin to call her that myself, and if I can match the same tone.

Arta