Over the last few days (months) I've been toying with how to title this particular blog - it could easily be "The Evolution of the Journey I Didn't Plan to Take... Ex-Motherhood, Melanoma, and still no Maserati" LOL but I'll go with the move to BC header. :-)
I do recall earlier this year promising to blog more - a promise to myself as much as anything - and here we are, a bit late but it is still 2022 after all. A health update from that same promising blog - I am happy to report that since hysterectomy and (occasionally reluctantly) increasing my iron intake, I have been determined no longer anemic! Cool! My hemoglobin is higher that it has been since my late twenties, and that feels like a really neat medical success.
On the "Ex-"Motherhood front, as I've mentioned before, the girls are all grown up, living together in the GTA, both have graduated their college programs and are working toward apprenticeships in each of their fields. They finished high school the spring that covid took over our lives, and then they worked, bravely moved out on their own, completed college programs (one by online education and one travelled via the TTC every day - eeek) and found their next-step jobs all in a little over a year, and during the height of covid 2020-2021.
I am so proud of them every day I almost burst! It was a really difficult transition to move apart from eachother, as our bubble of three was literally our way of life for 18 years. But as baby birds are supposed to do, they were ready to fly out on their own, so I sold our nest and we now chirp to eachother on skypes at least weekly if not more. As life goes, my new nest is across the country. But they are so supportive. And though we miss eachother greatly, we know we are only five hours apart (well.... plus an hour and two planes and airport time, but we won't get picky, I'm just saying, technically I can be to them in half a day if needed).
They haven't yet been able to come to BC since I've been here, but I have gone to Toronto a few times to visit, be there for their birthdays, help them with mother-daughter and life things, augment the parent-from-a-distance that successful young women baby birds don't mind having the odd time, and in the most recent visit - get a tour of the Toronto Islands, which I had never done before.
After living in a small town for 17 years then moving to a different province (a.k.a. planet) having my girls be my personal tour guides around their new city is really neat - though I'm NOT proficient at the TTC!!
They do say that eventually the parent-child roles reverse - watch Cass try to get me on the subway and you have real-life evidence of this grown mother throwing a tantrum. With real tears. Not sure why I excel at any form of public transit in all the foreign countries I've visited, but the Toronto Transit system makes we quake with confusion. Blech! Anywaaayyyyy....
BC - British Columbia! About that!
Also during the height of a global pandemic, I chose to move across Canada. Well to East-coasters I realize Ontario to BC isn't exactly across country, but with "TorOntario" being the centre of the universe and all, I'm taking creative license and calling it across the country. Meaford to Prince George - just a bit of a switch!
I will share with you some fun facts in the next few blogs, such as: Prince George is "BC's Northern Capital", and it is also an hour away from the geographical centre of the province, check me out in the picture proof below.
PG has about 80,000 people, a Costco, Home Depot, all the essentials - and most recently even a SEPHORA! The two main highways in the north, 16 & 97, intersect here - where you can find Mr. PG (more on him later) - and in any one of the four directions you go on those two roads you will find the most gorgeous mountains, trees, lakes, wildlife, history, camping spots, gold-mining opportunities, and even an ancient temperate forest with the giant cedars like on Vancouver Island.
I have learned there are some language barriers between left-coasters and Ontarians (shrimp = prawns, rubber boots are gum-boots, escarpments don't seem to be a thing here...and don't even get me started on "ATV'S" vs. Quads and "Side by Sides" !?). I have learned that sometimes a miscommunication can simply be a language thing, and I often stop to ask Mike what something means, just to make sure we're actually talking about the same thing.
And the time difference, OH THE TIME DIFFERENCE. You wouldn't think three hours would be that big a deal, but... it's just enough to make communication with home needing a strategic planner on it's own. You'd think I would have known that already, having worked from Ontario for a west-coast organization, I was always planning meetings based on the Eastern - Pacific time zone differences. Shoe on other foot when I got here and ugh.... 5am Pacific meetings suddenly became a norm. And on the days I'm not rollin' by 5am, half the day is already gone for the girls and my Mom by the time I've just woken up. We're slowly getting used to it, but it is challenging to keep in touch, especially with my friends who also work and have busy lives.
So I just realized I said "home" a second ago - this brings me back to the title of this blog and my reference to a BC Citizenship. There is not actually a citizenship change required to live here, it's more like a Mike-approval-phase I have learned I must pass before I can truly consider myself a British Columbian.
Something about having to drop Ontario chip from shoulder, become a little more hardy in the wilderness (get 8,000 pairs of hiking shoes!?), drive according to their weird little road rule differences (and not complain about it - oh and probably not call it "their"), and in general just chill the eff out. Oh and stop telling everyone I meet that I'm from Ontario.
Mike tests me regularly. I frequently "lose points," but then I get them back in sneaky-smart I'm-gonna-be-a-BC-girl ways ha ha - so fingers crossed for the five-year test. After being here for five years I should quite capably be able to call BC home.
This is us with Mr. PG, the city mascot
It is super fun here, there is adventure around every corner - I totally give Mike credit for that. He is lovely in general of course, hence the being swept off my feet and moving here to be with him! But he is also a thoughtful personal tour guide, super fun and adventurous, knows everything about the area and still loves to explore everything. We have gone so many places after I tell you about all of them I really will have to re-name my blog - I won't have time for melanoma or Maseratis at all!
We travel quite a bit around the area up here in northern BC and Alberta, either with our little RV, or in Mike's Camaro, depending on the destination, and the goal of the trip. Last year we camped almost every weekend May-October, and we did not go to the same place twice! There is so much to see and do camping all around here - waterfalls, hiking, checking out historical spots, and kayaking too. We are also quite interested in gold panning and there is a tonne of that here.
(yes, for my Ontario friends... gold-panning - I didn't quite know if Mike was joking-slash-language-barrier when he first told me about it but nope - it's true! And we now have our miner's licenses and spend some of our spare time gold mining/panning, and checking out spots to potentially get a claim of our own. True story!)
The move itself to get here was super fun too. I had shipped my belongings on crates in advance from Meaford to PG, and then Mike flew to Toronto, got a few days whirlwind tour meeting some of my family and friends, we moved the girls and Reese to Toronto, and then we started driving west, in my Jeep, which is now a BC Jeep. (LOL that's become a big joke here as my cute little SUV is "not a real Jeep" - compared to the crazy tricked-out off-roading vehicles all over the place here, my Jeep is a dinky car)
Mike bonded with the Jeep over the six day drive from TO to PG, it was so cute. Being the trained race car driver Mike is, having the dinky power of a 4-cylinder grocery-getter added a particularly comical element to all that came with his inviting me to come live with him in the wild northwest, beginning with the looooong drive there.
In any case, neither of us had done that full drive before; we had a great time, and of course hit a few of the main tourist spots that make Canada what it is - giant nickel in Sudbury, giant goose in Wawa, giant Ukrainian Easter egg in Vegreville. The Terry Fox monument of course too, and we also stopped to explore in the cities where we were born - the Sault for me, and Winnipeg for Mike. It was an awesome trip!
And when we approached the BC border and drove through the mountains wow... I knew my next chapter was on a road I had always dreamed of, but thought I'd never find.
So now I keep at it, am learning the BC lingo, have chilled out considerably (which I especially notice when I visit Ontarionto), and have also learned to identify my BC drivers license from my Care Card (Health Card) - they look the exact same, it's painful. Honestly!
We camp and explore, and live every day to the fullest, and I have SO much to fill you in on...
