...OverComing Mulder and Mayans...

pssst!  Between you and me let's pretend it hasn't been ages since I last posted here.

Agreed?

....

Thanks!


What to say?  Well, as with most of us no doubt, the last year has seen a lot of change.  Especially for our family.  Because of the job crunch in Ontario, I ended up taking a job out west.  At first it looked like we were heading to Calgary but then the opportunities our consulting firm had lined up there fell through so it was off to Edmonton instead.  For my family the switch made little difference as they had stayed back in Ontario while I spent six months working in Calgary, getting familiar with the area, and going out with a real estate agent to the various sections of town to scout out a location to move to.

All of that planning went up in smoke when I was reassigned to Edmonton.

What's that saying again?  Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans or some such thing...

So in mid-February of 2012 I was plopped down into a downtown Edmonton hotel scrambling to understand the needs of a new client and find a place for us to move to ASAP as each day I spent in the hotel ate into our moving budget.

All things have worked out rather well.  I found a little town nestled on the north edge of Edmonton, St. Albert, which is a lovely community that you can drive across in 10 minutes.  It is a scenic place with with a lovely variety of elevations ie not all flat plainsland, and a river that meanders through the centre of town. The educational and recreational facilities are fantastic.  The amount of them available per capita is rather stunning.  Most importantly, our son who just turned 13 but was 12 when we moved loves the Junior High School and his marks have improved dramatically as a reflection of that.  He misses his old friends back east but through the wonders of modern technology keeps in touch with them through his X-Box.

It is quieter out here.  You get out of St. Albert and Edmonton proper and the amount of elbow room one can feel out here - if you have been a long time resident of Southern Ontario - is rather stunning.  The local joke here is that Edmonton is 4 hrs from everywhere - Calgary, the Rockies, and Toronto - by plane.

We survived the forecasted world end of December 22, 2012 - Mulder and Mayans be damned - flew back east for Christmas and a week in Jamaica.  The nice thing when we flew back west was this time we were heading home.  The previous time, especially for my wife and son, the feeling of that flight was one of leaving home. This last trip closed the circle for all of us.

We are home.