A new beginning

Once again I find myself on a new path - one I never expected to be on at the age of (almost) 68 years old.

After 31 years of marriage I am once again a single woman. But I am a strong single woman who is ready to move on to the next phase of what has always been a bit of a roller coaster of a life.

I am extremely fortunate to have some very strong support behind me, both family and friends. Patti and Greg and the kids, John and Sarah (John is a nephew from a previous marriage) and multiple long time friends both here in Ontario and also some very special people on PEI. I'm going to be JUST FINE!

After coming here in March, for what was supposed to be two week, before the whole world blew up with Covid 19, I ended up staying until our house on PEI was sold in June. During my initial time here, I was able to find a place to live and furniture to live with. As I said, I was only planning to be here for two weeks so lots of unexpected things had to happen. During the early stages of the pandemic I was able to find great furniture pieces online. It was a pretty easy process - e transfer the money to the seller, and then swing by and pick up the item from their front porch or driveway. No muss, no fuss. (although I was chastised a bit about not being very good at staying home!) But that was rightly so.

In the end I have managed to furnish my little space to my liking and I'm very happy with it. It's a one bedroom apartment on the second floor of an old house very close to downtown Kitchener. As I've always had a fondness for all things old and antique, it suits me perfectly. The bonus is the attic space, which right now is packed with boxes but it is the perfect space for crafting. Not getting used so much at the moment but will be a perfect retreat on cold winter days. I can also use it as an extra sleeping space. I have a day bed up there and when guests visit from out of town (and I sincerely hope they will) then they can have the bedroom while I use the upstairs quarters. A win/win all around!

I don't know the city of Kitchener at all so I've been slowing learning my way around. This was made easier during the pandemic due to the lack of traffic. But now that things are slowly starting to open up a bit more there are new challenges to finding my way around but my GPS had been invaluable. 

I've still not put everything away that I brought with me from PEI. Most things are in the correct rooms but there's still a lot of fine tuning to do. But that can wait for cooler weather. Did I mention how hot it is here? Since my return the temperatures have been in the low 30's with the humidex readings into the high 30's and sometimes into the low 40's. I'm having to quickly adjust. I did grow up with this weather so it's not totally foreign to me but it is pretty warm. I'm fortunate that my apartment has a ceiling fan in the living room and kitchen that work wonders to keep the air moving. I brought a couple of portable fans with me and one of those in the bedroom goes a long way to keeping things relatively comfortable. I do admit, I'm missing those trips to the beach on the hot days.

Since school ended, Meghan has been working at a long term care facility. They are lucky to have not had any cases of covid. She seems to be really enjoying it and was actually offered a full time position recently in the kitchen. That's my girl! She's still trying to figure out what she wants to do in the future so I'm sure this real life experience will help keep her motivated to explore her options. It's been a tough time for her and her friends having to miss out on their high school graduation, prom and for her, the final dance recital of her dance career. But they are making do. They had a drive by graduation ceremony, and Meg and one of her friends got all dressed up in their prom dresses and took pictures at the Arboretum at the University. Desperate times call for desperate measures. It will surely be a memorable time for them in the future.

One of the things I don't have here is any type of outdoor storage space. So upon my return from PEI

I decided to purchase a kit to put together a shed to store things like my bicycle, camping gear, etc. After choosing my shed Patti went with me with Greg's truck to pick it up at Home Depot. We dropped the giant box in my driveway planning to put it together at a later date. That evening (Saturday) I was at the grocery store when Patti texted that apparently we were having a shed building party on Sunday. I just smiled as it made me so happy to know that I have people around me who are ready and willing to lend a hand. So on Sunday there was Patti, Greg and Tristen as well as John and Sarah. As expected John and Greg did a lot of the heavy work and I was very grateful for their assistance. The box said 2 people could put it together in 3 hours and Patti and I thought we might be able to do it, but there's no way. But it's done and it looks great. Patti brought food for our supper - lobster rolls. I made a
caesar salad to go with it as I didn't have any cabbage to make coleslaw. But it was like a little taste of heavy for me - filled with special memories of so many lobster rolls enjoyed with the VanGaals over the years.

All in all it's been a whirlwind of activity since I returned and now I feel like I'm getting on with my life!

Everyday I get inspirational messages on facebook that help me accept what has happened and motivate me to move forward. I'll share some of them from time to time.