Some Scary Moments

We got back to the warm embrace of our children in Oakville after a short lay over in Lagos. Talking of Lagos, I must record my gratitude to Kamar, whom I like to call in full - Kamarudeen Bakrin going back to our days as colleagues in Colgate Palmolive for responding positively to my request at very short notice the night I got to Oniru estate. Col Ibim Lawson of the Military Police was very kind in donating his personal car and driver to take me to the airport. It was a very emotional reunion with my former team in the wealth management group in Ikoyi.
The flight back to Toronto through Amsterdam and Detroit was largely uneventful. My poor angels - Sampi, Danju and Papa were real troopers and held the forte on the home front just as they promised they would. God bless their young hearts.
Early on holy Saturday, we tidied up the house for yet another house showing, now this is getting real serious. I mean when will we get a reasonable offer on the house so we can get our lives back. So to IKEA we went for brunch and thereafter I dropped off at Appleby football field with Papa for his weekend practice. Siya, Sampi and Danju then ran along for grocery shopping.
Easter Sunday was warm and nice. Lunch was sumptuous and tasty. At times one wonders how the farmers get the poultry so big. The turkey was so big that getting it out of the oven was a major event. This though was one fight I had to win and win it I did.
Siya's flight back to her Edmonton base was initially scheduled for 8.00 am on Easter Sunday but to get more family time, we changed it to an evening departure. With lunch over we drove to Pearson International for Siya's six hour flight to Edmonton through Calgary.
You can therefore imagine how scary it was for us when the phone rang at about 6.15am EST (which is 4.15am Edmonton time) and the voice at the other end asking if Siya was still in Oakville because she was yet to arrive the home where she stays in Edmonton. If she were a truant teenager, I could have assumed she was up to some pranks. Phone calls to her sister in Ottawa and a physical check of her room by her host family did not provide any clues as to her whereabouts. My anxiety was heightened when the airline confirmed the flight had landed in Edmonton the night before at about 11pm. Now it was time to let the kids (who were still sleeping) know their mum was 'missing in transit'. I thereafter contacted the cops. The challenge was how to classify my report. Was it a case of a runaway adult or a missing person? The police service in charge of Pearson International airport was notified and so was the Edmonton police. A search had begun stretching from Ontario to Alberta. The kids and I were on standby and so was my friend in Edmonton, Omodu.
A couple of minutes after 10am, it was Omodu again on the phone. Siya had been found, alive and safe! She said she got off the airplane and not wanting to come knocking on their door at such an unholy hour, had checked into a hotel and tried calling Omodu's family but the voice mail was full. If only she had bothered to call us in Oakville this mild drama perhaps could have been avoided. We all hope the lesson is not lost on us.
With the end of today's scary moments, I say bye for now.