Red Cedar

In the past week I have landed, and re-landed, and landed again – and I have to admit that I am feeling turned inside out by the process.

We moved ten days ago, from Vancouver to Gabriola Island. Then on Friday we flew north to Bella Coola for a 2-day trip in order to witness the marriage of our friends Dayna and Ernie. Last night we got home and this morning I got on the ferry for my first commute into Nanaimo for work.

While our new home is beautiful, and work is not an issue in terms of the commute, my actual cubicle/office space is pretty awful and I’m working on either getting it changed or fixing it up. But in any case it’s a lot of changes all at once and I’m telling myself that it’s going to start to feel normal real soon. Just the fact that I’ve got my work access pass sorted out and bought a few office supplies helped a bit this morning.

But let me tell you that as discombobulated as I feel right at this moment, our new home is almost entirely set up and I absolutely love the location and the layout of our property. I’ll share photos and details in the next few days – tonight I get to unpack my studio space and then we’ll be pretty much done with the initial organizing of our selves. There is much gardening to do, and some small interior details to see to – but otherwise we’re pretty much there and it feels so good to be at home that I don’t like to have to leave it!

I’ll start posting here again regularly as we are settling into new routines and a new approach to living our lives.

I haven’t moved yet, but the prospect of moving in two weeks time has got me distracted from everything else. I am finishing old projects that have turned up, organizing my belongings, and getting rid of garbage one bag at a time. We have packers coming to do the big work of boxing it all up, but I’ve still got to sort out what needs to be taken, and what should be given away, recycled, composted, or trashed. 

While I feel that I have the moving part under control, I have to admit that I occasionally get a bit scared about moving to Gabriola. I’ve been pretty committed to urban living for a long time, and there’s a part of me that worries that I am not ready to go back to the country just yet. On the other hand, whenever we go out to our cabin in the woods (which we just did for five amazing days this past weekend) – I never want to leave, and re-entering the city feels like a big drag. And then when I imagine living steps from the sea, I get really excited. So – really, I’m feeling all the feelings. I have loved my home and my neighbourhood for a long time, I am also ready to move on from this house, but I don’t want to leave because leaving is change and change is who knows what next?

Right? Right. Moving residence is a thing I haven’t done for awhile – not since I came back from the Sunshine Coast nine years ago – and I am provoked by the reality of it. The hugeness of the undertaking. The smallness of its importance to anyone else but me.

I’m not sure if I’ll get to post much in the next couple of weeks – we’ll see. But if I don’t, rest assured that I am just gently freaking out as the days tick by and pretty soon it will all be done.

Nitobe garden at UBC – so glorious right now (at least it was on Sunday when I took this picture during a break from meditation). I’ve been soaring on good feelings for the last couple of days, though as of this moment, I have nothing important to say – so enjoy this beautiful spot where I laid down and looked at the water.

I’m learning how to record and edit myself for the purposes of podcasting. Last night after lots of ums, ahs, false starts, and the telephone ringing (the phone never rings around here normally!) I dropped into a bit of a reflection about the sound of my own voice. A little editing in GarageBand and it’s a nice little vignette (if I do say so myself). Interested in hearing four minutes of me? Press play below (and I won’t be offended if you don’t).

And yes, I could speak a bit slower – but the truth is, I probably won’t learn how to do it now after forty-three years – so let’s all try to listen a little faster, shall we?