Cousins

In his first year of life, our one year-old son, Christopher, has grown up largely on the other side of the country from his cousins - who all live near our present home.  When we had opportunity to come here for Christmas, or other occasions, I was always amazed by how quickly he picked up some new ability.

In the week between this last Christmas and New Years, Christopher went from two steps to seventeen after seeing his closest cousin in age toddling around.  Now he seems to be learning how to ride a tricycle and use the swings in the yard.  He's also taking up the family tradition of enjoying tractor rides with his Opa.

When I was growing up I had limited access to my grandparents and cousins.  They often lived a full days drive away from wherever I was living.  I was lucky to see some of my cousins once every year or two.  Others I might see once every five or more years.

Christopher has now had the benefit of extended time with both sets of grandparents as well as the lifestyle of living near mountains/climbing gyms and farms/lakes.  It makes me grateful that my son can experience many different ways of life growing up.  I hope he will have a greater understanding than I did of what it means to be both human and Canadian as he grows to become an adult.

Raised In A Barn

This summer is going to be full of new experiences.  Ultimately we intended to live in some kind of trailer/vehicle on Vancouver Island.  For the time being though we are staying in the "man cave" of my wife's father on his farm in Southern Ontario.  Unlike most man caves though, this one is inside of an 800+ square foot barn.

On the bottom level is a small shop to store and repair medium sized farm equipment and a gathering area complete with kitchen and dining space.  Upstairs, where we stay, is a semi-finished loft with a small make-shift bedroom area and some old, comfy couches.

As a rock climber I was even more excited to see that the barn is equipped with ample beams from which to hang... and hang rings.  As well, our 16 month-old son enjoys all of the dangerous equipment on which to climb and tricycles on which to ride.

Ironically, the space in which we're living now is larger than our old home.  It's not what I had in mind when I suggested to my wife that we try to "down size."

Inauspicious Beginnings

In the weeks leading up to our move, we had many invitations and surprise visits from friends wishing us farewell.  While we enjoyed every one of them, it did mean that our last couple of days involved a lot of packing.

After pulling an all-nighter we rushed to the airport only to find that we were ten minutes too late to put our luggage on the plane.  So, in a frustrated and exhausted state we tried to rearrange only the most essential items into our carry on luggage. 

We tried to console ourselves with the knowledge that at least this time we couldn't lose our luggage in the black hole of Pearson International Airport (Toronto).  However, after successfully fitting our items into the overhead bins of the previous two planes, our flight attendant insisted that we needed to stow our overhead luggage underneath the plane on our last leg.  We were told that we would receive them at the exit, but I suspected otherwise.

Normally this process does work.  The airline places a special tag on your luggage and it is handed back to you when you leave.  In fact it has worked every other time I've done this except at Pearson.  The airport in Toronto has never failed to lose my luggage, and so even this seemingly simple task was messed up.  It turned out that after my suitcases were taken from me and placed outside the door, no one came to pick them up and they stayed in Toronto while we flew to London, Ontario without them.

I was livid when my bags didn't show up.  I knew that the bags would eventually be returned to me, but I let the WestJet baggage attendant know (politely) that I was unimpressed with how we were made to leave half our luggage behind and then lose the remaining half because our bags were then too large. 

At least it's all uphill from here.

Five Year Plan

Five years ago roughly I took a big step forward in my career and took a job as the manager of a climbing gym in Alberta (Canada).  It was the first not-minimum-wage job I had ever held.  I had also worked at this climbing gym off and on several times before and had learned from watching those other managers, that time and politics would burn out even the most dedicated and excited workers.

Armed with this wisdom I made a plan to work as hard as I could for five years, and set out to create some goals for my time at this gym:  1)  I wanted to create a space where everyone could feel welcome regardless of their abilities.  2)  I wanted to help people become good at climbing.  3)  I wanted to create a system and build a team that could take over the operation of the gym at the end of those five years after I left.

Now it has been five years.  I have left that gym on good terms and feel I have accomplished all of my goals.  While I will miss my friends, I am excited to think about them growing as leaders and people.  I am also excited about the next stage of my life.

Within the next year, along with my wife and kid (possibly more in the future), we hope to start our own climbing gym somewhere in Canada.  We're not exactly sure where yet, but we have some options.  In the mean time we sold our house and car, gave away most of what we owned, and moved across the country to southern Ontario to live and work on my wife's family's farm for the summer.  We took nothing with us but some carry-on luggage.  This blog is about what we will learn and experience as a family from this point forward - our Fresh Start.