July 27th & 28th, 2002
So while we waited in the heavy rain, I recovered from the shock of being woken up so rudely. Soon enough, the rain died down. Although it hadn't completely stopped drizzling, we decided to answer nature's call before the rest of the crowd shook off their early morning inertia.
Came back and enjoyed our canned "MR. BROWNS ICED COFFEE"....ohhh so good to sip that caffeine! Even the crumbled muffins tasted good at that point! After we were through with breakfast, we freshened up our look (hair, breath, etc.)...it WAS afterall the big Mass!!
Since we still had 2 hours before mass at 9:30am, we thought of going around saying hello to a few strangers. So the four of us split into different directions. I took my back-pack with me so that I could get a few autographs. Spoke to people from Woodbridge, Quebec, Poland, France, Chicago and Chile. Michelle met people from Iraq, but most others were from Canada. We also gave them these little souviners we hand-made from home...just a little "Welcome to Canada" token of hospitality...it was a thrill to see their face light up in appreciation of that little gift.
At around 8:30am we found ourselves a nice spot with a clear view of the stage (it was getting harder to see the stage with all the flags and umbrellas). Then, as the time drew nearer it began to drizzle again...the crowd gave an almost simultaneous sigh of frustration. But OH...that was JUST the beginning!! I opened my umbrella and mentally prepared for another downpour. Then we saw a group from our Church lifting the tarp they were sleeping on, over their head. It was quite large and they asked ppl with umbrellas to join them, so that it could be lifted higher. We did ...since we had just 3 umbrellas between the 4 of us. And then it really began to rip! Buckets...no, BARRELS of water ceaselessly poured onto the crowd. I really wanted it to stop. I mean, this is what I came here for....THE MASS. I couldn't even hear the opening hymn! In fact, I wouldn't have even known that mass had started if the crowd didn't scream out when the Pope's helicopter arrived. It had been almost 40 mins that we were under the tarp...about 20 people now taking refuge in it's dripping shelter. It got even more frustrating when then wind began to blow hard on the resisting tarp. Some people even left at that point, saying "this storm isn't going to let for another hour, at least". That's when I prayed, "Lord help us make it through this"...I know it sounds stupid...but I really wanted to scream with frustration. I then turned around, to hold the tarp with my other hand, and saw in the distance nothing but clear, blue sky. How comforting it was to see that there was still hope. Within seconds the storm turned to spits of drizzle and the sun came out from under its shroud. I threw off the tarp and was thrilled to find that we didn't miss too much of the service.
Soon after mass, we left with the first group of people from our group to leave the park. The walk back to the exit wasn't as treacherous as the first one. Walked towards Wilson Station and saw an enormous mass of pilgrims all around. But slowly we made it inside. The TTC must be commended for it's well organized operation. They only let a certain number of people onto the platform, to prevent over crowding and the dangers of it. The best part was getting onto the cool train (which was also a surprise). We were finally heading home!!
