Here goes – the turning of the page, the beginning of a new chapter. Bags in hand, my beautiful Siamese kitty Asia and I are starting our new adventure. On my flight from Ottawa to Vancouver, I’ve had time to reflect on this past week, and every experience it has brought with it – saying goodbye to old friends, packing for 3 different locations, renting out my home, and leaving my routine and support system in Ontario for the mountains of British Columbia, new adventures, and a chance to live on a beautiful horse farm. Sometimes, you have to go after what sets your soul on fire… What makes you happy, all the while being new and uncertain.

“You can’t have courage without being afraid”

To the one place there was always laughter, coffee, and sarcasm.

The sun setting is merely just the turning of a page.

Change is one of those tricky things… It’s looked at as the end of an era, the start of a new chapter. It’s a combination of excitement, fear, and the anxiety that comes with leaving one place you’ve known most your life. It has been a long week – packed with visiting friends, closing up my first home, and getting on a plane to begin this new chapter. It’s strange sometimes how endings are just like beginnings – full of uncertainty, changes in perspective, and the jumping off point when you start the new beginning

I sat on the back deck of my first house with my two close friends, not knowing the next time we would be here. As the sun began to set, we laughed about the memories we created here, and every time this house had been our safe haven – the space we could be accepted exactly as we are, no matter the situation. I never imagined this chapter of my life holding so much importance. How blessed I am to have something that is so difficult to say goodbye to. Somewhere along the way this past year and a half, this house became a home. A place to run to, a place to learn from, where we celebrated our triumphs, and learned from our mistakes. I learned how to stand on my own here, surrounded by love and support – it seems strange to know it will still be my house tomorrow, but it will be someone else’s home. May it hold for her as many lessons, and memories as it held for me. As I closed the front door for the last time, the birds were singing, the sky was clear, and the air was warm. Peaceful. Somehow, the house looks stronger than it did when I first moved in… Or perhaps it’s me that’s stronger now.

Flights give you a lot of spare time to think,  to clear your head – I don’t know why, but there’s something about 34000ft that let’s everything get quiet. Sitting on this plane, I am proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone – never before would I have considered moving away from the familiarity of home, and the support I have always found there. But there is something magical about the beauty of this place – that let’s your heart slow and keeps your mind still. There’s a serenity found where the mountains keep reaching for the sky. How simply British Columbia captures your heart…. We call this place home now.