Up In Smoke

So my dad always used to tell me stories about how he grew up with Tommy Chong (yeah duh, of Cheech and Chong) in Bowness, Alberta. Bowness is, or was, a really really small place. One of the stories revolved around a park in Bowness that had canals running through it, like in Venice or Amsterdam. Another story involved a VW van and some mushrooms. I kinda always thought my dad was full of it, or that he inflated his relationship with Tommy a bit to make for a better story. Then, the day came when I got to work with Cheech and Chong. I met Tommy in the hallway and we started having a conversation about Russell Brand, and flopsweat, and blah blah... anyway we were chatting away like we were old friends. He came in and hung out in the makeup room, and I asked him if he was from Alberta, and he said, “Yeah, from Calgary. Well, not really, just outside of Calgary, this really small place called Bowness.” Get the outta here, thought I. “I think you may have known my dad.”



Tommy freakin' Chong totally remembered my dad and told me the same stories, just with his spin on them. Party stories. It totally made me all misty-eyed. He also remembered my mom’s NAME and the exact corner that her grandfather’s store was. When I told him that my granddad owned the gas station across the street, how my dad worked there and that’s how he met my mom, he smacked my leg and said, “I KNOW THAT STORY!” …but all he could remember was something about my dad kidnapping my mom for a date in a convertible. He also said, "You know, you're like me. Half Asian and don't look it." Anyway, he was a really nice dude. Both of them were. Tommy was telling Cheech about my dad and Bowness, and Cheech asked Chong, “If she’s the Bowness, were you the boner?” Surreal moment #372: Cheech and Chong standing in my makeup room singing “Luck Be a Lady” to me.