We've had one of those weeks when the world tosses you around and you have to rag-doll and wait for it to pass. We're hiding out in Ottawa at Alex's parents before heading back to Montreal to reclaim our life. The day before leaving Vancouver Alex lost his job. We left Montreal with five weeks of paternity leave and discovered we were returning to a hacked work schedule, not enough to live on. We weren't surprised; it's the kind of place where you have to be permanently rag-dolled. But we thought they would have some decency, if not respect for their legal obligation, to not screw us over while we were away. Or at least give us some warning. But that's not their style. So, we weighed our options and decided the best thing for us is for Alex to be laid off completely, go on EI, and start packing up. We had loose plans to leave at the end of March, but as our trip West ended I knew I was truly ready to settle into the more permanent life we've been putting off in Vancouver or thereabouts. For me, this shit with Cafe Mariani is a blessing. I can finally come home.
Now all that's left is the packing that, honestly, I've meticulously envisioned over and over again, and some good old fashioned manifestation. I feel really positive about this move, and know that we will be taken well care of. For me, this is one of the purist decisions I've ever made and I'm excited to see where it takes us.
On our last day on the Sunshine Coast Alex, Sebastian and I walked about Lower Gibsons in the slushy rain. We got some gelato and walked down to the marina and along the peer, watched the fishing boats. The ocean was frozen in the tiny inlets of the docks. I'd never seen frozen ocean before.
The next day my parents drove us into Vancouver. We had lunch in Kits at the Naam then drove around UBC. My mother has a vision of living in the new green development there and has been applying for jobs on campus in association with the farm and gardens. Oddly, it was my great-Grandpa (my father's Grandpa, not my mother's, who is so enthralled with the place) who founded the UBC farm. My Grandpa and his siblings and a large herd of Ayrshire cows crossed the Atlantic from Scotland, travelled across Canada and settled there. We saw my Grandpa's old elementary school on the campus. It's a huge place. Almost a city on it's own. I've applied for the Masters of Fine Arts program there for this upcoming September and will hear whether or not I got in this month. So it was kind of a charged visit, a place where all of us envision our future in some sense. It was also strange because the only time I had ever been there was to visit Rio a few years ago. She was living in an apartment there, struggling through her degree while battling her illness. I sat in the back seat feeling a little emotional, heading to the airport, saying goodbye to my parents. But it was good for us to all be there, I think.
On another note, today my little brother Simon is leaving Panama City on a fifty-foot sail boat bound for Sydney, Australia. He's been living in a crew house in Florida looking for a crew job on a yatch or sailboat, then cruising around America these last few months with people he's met. He and a buddy were bound from Pittsburgh to the small island of Saint Maarten in the Caribbean, hoping to find work there instead, when he got a job offer to help sail this boat. I think they'll be arriving in Sydney in a few months. The destination is great for him because we're Australian citizens and can work without papers there. We also have aunts, uncles and cousins scattered throughout the country who I don't think Simon has met yet. I must say, I'm a little envious!
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