There’s a lot of big changes happening right now

Ok. So. You may have noticed that I haven’t posted in a while. I’m so sorry. I’ve written for many many years and have posted every fews days… even in the midst of chaos. However, this Spring I discovered the end of what I am capable of handling.

In a nutshell, there have been a lot of changes in our life. Big changes.

Firstly, the catalyst for me being unable to write was Stryder dying. He developed bone cancer and was gone quickly. I still can’t talk about it without experiencing his death all over again.

I’m not able to write about him because I’m not able to talk about his death; and, since he was the source of my blog content for many years, I associate parts of my site with him. So, I avoided the site.

I miss my boy.

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Then came the next big change: we are leaving Calgary… forever. The city is falling apart rapidly and frankly, I’m really sick of the closed-minded, closed community, risk-averse, male-dominated, competitive, passive-aggressive culture.

My job is to transform large corporations — their culture, their practices, and how they provide value to global markets. A lot of the challenges I face are rooted in behaviours that start in schools, in sports, in our communities, and in how we treat each other.

I can no longer ignore the impact that these things have on our happiness… especially when I am actively bringing up a little girl who I want to be brave, self-confident, self-reliant, intelligent, worldly, adventurous, creative, and strong. I’m tired of watching these characteristics get pushed down, especially when I am working to build them up.

So, we are moving to Montreal. It’s a very different city.

We’ve already had a taste of what life is like in that city and are really excited. If you want a quick info byte, this article is an interesting read about the Montreal food scene and how it is driven by the open-mindedness of Montrealers.

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My new favourite cafe in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue.

Our timing sucks. Hundreds of thousands of people are leaving Calgary because they can’t find work. So, we are joining the mass exodus East; and, the fires in Fort McMurray have only added to the exodus (unfortunately, one of those burned-out houses in the linked article is my cousin’s).

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Photo taken by Mat just before the evacuation.

The last few months have involved research, buying a house in Montreal (in French), shedding years of stuff (it’s emotional and I’ve cried a lot — I can’t imagine the emotion behind losing everything to a fire), prepping our house for renters, working with a French tutor (La Niña doesn’t speak a word of French — remember, her second language is Spanish), and preparing for the Great Cross Canada Adventure. We are doing it twice. I’m freaked out about the whole thing.

And, in the midst of all of this, I have taken on a transformation project that has me flitting around to various U.S. states: California, Nebraska, Colorado, and soon: Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. I don’t even know how to get to Alabama… because you can’t get there on a plane from Canada.

But wait, it gets more exciting… in Omaha, I had my first tornado experience and was part of an underground evacuation when said tornado touched down three blocks from where I was working.

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Mother nature is seriously kicking everyone’s ass this year.

My point is that I’ve been to so many places recently and I’ve taken so many photos but I haven’t written a damn thing (except professional stuff like this).

I’m so sorry.

I’m going to start by writing about coffee adventures because that has been my glue in the last few months. Please be patient, because before you know it there’ll be some cross Canada posts… and lots of adventures in Quebec… en français.

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