Jagger got up yesterday in Western Canada at 4:00 am his time to catch a plane.

I got up today in Belgium at 4:30 am my time to catch a bus and a train.

We’ve spent the last hour (7:30 till 8:30 pm my time) … sleeping.

In between the adventure has begun.

I made it to the Arrivals gate at Brussels Airport by 7:40 am, just as Jagger’s plane was touching down. 

As he was going through Customs and gathering his luggage, I watched the flow of humanity passing before me.  All shapes, sizes, cultures, races, ages, energy levels and personalities of human beings.  Some alone and some together, some adored by loved ones and some invisible.

One tiny boy carried by papa saw the waiting eyes of grandma and fell into her arms.  There was a connection between the two that began ten metres away.

Minutes later, a young man of 20, who lives near the foot of the Rocky Mountains, was hauling his green suitcase towards me.

We hugged.  We smiled.  We remembered past good times.  It’s been nearly two years.

Jagger was quiet as old Brussels and then the emerald fields of rural Belgium unwound before us from the train.  And then some stunning architecture from the bus in Gent.

The morning bustle of walkers, cyclists and delivery trucks greeted us on the cobblestones of my street – the Oudburg. 

I wondered what my young friend was thinking.  This was all new to him.

But first things first: Jagger falling asleep in my guest bedroom and me working on Dutch for an hour-and-a-half.

Today we wandered the streets.  We sipped the beer.  We perched ourselves near the top of the Belfort (a medieval tower completed in 1380) listening to the carillon music coming through the ceiling and gazing out at the magnificence of the city.

And then Juicy Lucy burgers at ‘t Koningshuis, only steps from my apartment.

***

(Sigh)

Now even my fingers are tired.  And so …

Goodnight