Importance of Place - Part 6 -Vancouver

I did not intend to shoot roots into this land.

My intention was to keep my promise to my daughter and stay in Vancouver till she finished high school. I had arrived with an already mapped out exit.

But, in the meantime, I decided to build a house. I found a lot and a contractor. My daughter and I pored over plans, then textures and colors and  created a cozy, light filled nest close to her high school.

Then the coup de grace. I fell in love - and popped the man into it.

A house, a partner, and an offspring.

The dream trifecta.

My travel bug flipped on her back and relaxed her quivering legs- into Savasana.

I began looking for a spark of adventure close to home. In trails I had not yet walked, in dance, in speeding on two wheels.

 Is adventuring in place an oxymoron? I wondered.

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Maybe I could plant a cutting from my Saskatchewan root and plant it on the West Coast. What parts of me would survive and how would I need to change.

Could a prairie chicken thrive in a rainforest?

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I want to state - I still prefer directness, love open skies and appreciate prairie common sense and resilience.

And now also love moss, ferns, and the quiet drama of a drizzly day and bowl of soup.

Of course, popcorn cherry blossoms and dogwood butterflies are obscenely spectacular. I mean, who can resist a rodo in bloom…

Spring in Vancouver romances everyone.

But beyond the environment, Vancouver has given me continuity. I watched my daughter grow up. Built a home, made room for love.

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Now 30 years on, the life I did not intend to build, is the one that fits.