Thursday, December 12, 2013

Hello There Stranger!

Hi my friends,

   I know it's been a long time since I've written in here.  There have been a great deal many changes since I left Calgary.  Particularly after starting this new job there have been alot of changes.  I don't get the same 15 minute coffee breaks regularly at 10:15 and the other at 3:15 like I did when I was in Calgary.

   Most days I'm also working through lunch so I can bank up some time for Christmas.  My daily schedule used to be (in Calgary) 7-4.  I'd go home at lunch and spend lunch with my family or have a nap.  Then go back to work.  Come home at 4 and start cooking supper, kiss my wife goodbye as she runs off to work.  Take care of Cass until I put her to bed around 7.

   Do some writing, gaming, or watching TV til 9 and then go to bed.

  Now I work 30 - 40 mins away from work.  Get off at 5, get home by 5:45 and have supper.  Give Cass a bath, play with her for a while and get her to bed around 7:30.  Get a few odds and ends done and head to bed around 9 or 10 depending on how tired (or sick) I am.

   Fortunately these days my migraines have been few and far between.  Getting better every day.  Although the last week I've been sick.  Hell we've ALL been sick the last 2 weeks.  Jana, Cassiday, Gail and Bob.  Flu and Cold making it's rounds between us.

   Better now than Christmas though.

   In the last month, I've felt homesick.  I don't miss the copious amounts of snow, good god no.  But I miss the comforting familiarity of my home.  I miss my friends, both old and new.  I miss my parents coming through and drinking wine with me every so often.  Hell, I miss making wine and beer... and yes, Brock, even port.

  I miss going to the Cat and having a beer and hanging with my buds.  I miss my coworkers.  Julie, stopping by and chatting about what's new.  I miss Candace, her head just clearing the tops of our cubicle partitions, which signaled she was heading over to me.  I miss Jeremy and our chats about games and the newest toys at Memory Express.  I miss coffee breaks in the lunch room laughing at stuff with my coworkers.  Pizza days, the Paliser, BBQ's...  Lunches with Amber and other friends.

   Having Cassidy's siblings over, and Selene...  Claude and the neighbors and over the fence conversations...

   I admit, there have been times when I stop and wonder what they hell I was thinking when I made this, almost SNAP decision to move out here.

   And then I get back to myself and remember... Oh yeah, it wasn't always all roses.

   I had massive migraines where I missed work and social functions.  I had vertigo for a week because it got so bad.   Jana missed her family and their support.  And most of all I wanted Cassidy to grow up with a close knit family that Jana's italian side had...

  And the major reason... well to put it honestly, I felt the Spirit of God gently prodding us to move out here.  Conversations with people, frustrations in Calgary.  Stress. (Not that it's been entirely stress-free the last few months after moving here either) ... Just as God gently pushed Abraham out of the land of Ur onto his journey of faith, I felt similarly that God was also telling us to come here to Vancouver.

  And so here we are, 3 months later.  Not everything has yet settled into place.  It may take a year or more before that really happens.

  But I'm starting to figure out my role in my company.  And our big family at home with Bob and Gail is starting to feel like a haven that we feel at home in while we get on our feet and forge a new place for us out here.

  It's not been easy, but it's been an experience.  I now know exactly how my wife felt when she moved to Calgary.  A lesson I'm grateful for as I can finally understand and marvel and how much she loved me to leave Vancouver to be with me in Calgary.  With no friends, no family, and no safety net out there to speak of.  In fact, I'm moving to Vancouver with far more support than she had.

  Yeah - my wife is awesome.

  And so is God... And he's been teaching me things every day out here.  Constantly.  

  This is good.  And in this, I'm contentedly happy.  Very, Very happy and very bless.

  God loves you all, and a Merry Christmas in case I don't get back on here for a bit.

Sincerely with much love,

Travis