This Day:
Days start at 5 am for me. Best time of day without fail. I always wake up before my alarm. Quiet, cool, coffee and vitamin time. Even the birds are quiet for bit. The dogs beg to run out back to romp, I feed the cat in peace and make the best drink of the day. Why does coffee taste so good in the morning and really not so great later in the day? I don’t know why but I cherish my first morning coffee.
The first cancellation was for my physio therapy session at 8 am. Someone was ill. The next came from Cambodia via email. The trip I planned with a fellow cyclist to go from Cambodia to Vietnam was cancelled by my roomie but I will go alone. There has to be two people before they will allow the tour and we were it. There is hope on the horizon as another cyclist in cyberspace is contemplating the trip. I am not completely optimistic though and will need to be patient and wait. Then a call from my first born asking if I knew my second born was planning on going into a rehab mental health centre in two days, the day I was taking them both to Mexico as a Christmas Gift. The third trip cancelation this year, at the last minute. After falling from my roof months ago and sustaining a bad break into the tibial plateau of my driving leg. I had to cancel my Icelandic pony ride and Galapagos trip. It is becoming a habit to cancel my trips it seems, or perhaps I was not supposed to travel this year. Perhaps next year will be different. What a difference a day makes. Now to calculate the losses, the insurance payouts and how much money this last cancellation will cost me.
This Week:
This past week I have been off crutches and working. Feeling the freedom of doing things on my own again. I really hated depending on others. I walked the dogs too far, worked too many hours, and had a sore, swollen leg every night. Funny but biking on my recumbent bike really improves the swelling. My physiotherapist has warned me to cool it and slow down. I will do just that. I thought I would do that on the beach in Mexico, but that is not to be.
The house became very cool, so cold I had my sweater and down vest on and I was looking for my coat. Before I put my coat on I checked the thermostat. 15 degrees in the house and the Nest thermostat was not working as the wifi went out. Well, this was the first time I realized that my house heat depended on wifi. My router was only working on one port and the thermostat was on another. I changed the wifi password taking far more time to figure it out than it should have but then I had heat. Now to figure out the best router to buy as a replacement. Fun times ahead setting that up. It always says “easy to install” then I take a half a day to do so. Luckily it is quite warm out now and so no heat for hours will be fine. The fellow at the apple store where I was looking at routers said it happened to him as well but his Nest was on “heat” when the wifi went out the furnace would not stop heating so they had all the windows open to cool down. I guess I was lucky mine was on off when the wifi went off.
A friend started a new job in Toronto, she calls just about every day. Her problems seem unsurmountable to her but she keeps a positive attitude and is doing ok this week . Another friend had a terrible tragic accident by the hands of a doctor and now has an ileostomy stoma and multiple surgeries yet to come to fix the mistakes. This week she found out she also has a tumor on her kidney. A blessing in disguise is what she says. The silver lining for all the problems she has endured, finding out about the tumor before it became a problem. She looses her kidney in a few weeks, yet another surgery. Another friend has had so many family issues happening at the same time they are impossible to list here. Suffice it to say, when I look around over the past week, my issues are so minor, not sure what I have been fussing about.
This Month:
I turned 61, didn’t feel any different but have been told by my trauma surgeon and physiotherapist that because of my age, I will not heal so quickly. I guess I am getting old. It hasn’t been until lately that I started to feel old as well.
I booked so much work next year I hardly have time off. Why can I not say no?
The seasons changed and the days became so short. I am waiting for the solstice so I can watch how fast the daylight increases every day.. I doubt I would do well in the far north with such short days for so long, but I would love to visit.
So this month I started back at work. I did too much and for too long but I am learning to take it easy. I have had many a day with nothing planned at all.
I was asked and accepted to be a board member at the Ark Aid Street Mission. I enjoy helping out there and now I might be able to help out in determining the direction of the mission. I am excited to see what is involved.
This Year:
Well, at the beginning of the year, 2019 I had a plan. The plan was well laid out, where I was to go, how much I was to work. As a matter of fact, the whole years work calendar was filled by November the year before. Well laid plans but the year looked much different. I did say I was going to sell my building up north and I did. What a relief as the leasee was leaving and I would be with an empty building to rent. One month to spare. God is good.
The day I broke my leg I spent the entire day in the heat at Pawloosa in the Vet tent to treat any dogs with health issues. I was hot a ndsweaty then went on the roof to clean it then I fell off. I ended up staying in those clothes for 2 days. No bath or shower for such a long time. My new neighbors moved in that day.
I worked all over this year. Labrador, Sault Ste Marie, Sudbury, Kingston, Toronto, Sarnia. I camped all over too, all over Ontario, Algonquin, Kilbear, Grundy, Killarney, Pinery, Quetico, Pucasaw, Restoule, Blue lake, Arrowhead, Awenda, MacGreggor, Sleeping Giant, Oastler, Inverhuron,. I hiked many of the provincial parks around and many conservation areas as well. My plan was to travel to Iceland, Galapagos, and Mexico this year. All three cancelled for various reasons. The year of cancellation, that is 2019. I was not aware of what 2020 would bring.
This Decade:
This decade started with me living in Minden, owning the minden animal clinic and wanting out. Call it compassion fatigue, staffing issues, lack of church community...or all of the above.
I travelled to South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, Ethiopia, Suriname, and Northern Ontario for various volunteer veterinary clinics. I find that travel and work are good for me. I prefer that to just a vacation. I really love to live with the people of different cultures and learn some of their ways.
Moved from Minden to London. Started a locum business that is now booming. Sold my business, building and house. Another place to start over again to find friends and places to hike, church, work places. After 4 years in London, I am ready to move to another place and start again. Where to go now???
Perhaps I should do this annually, a look back to the year that just happened. What a weird year it has been. Was it only 12 months? Time seems to have stopped for a bit as so much happened this year that it seems hard to imagine it was only a few months. I had some unwanted time off due to Covid 19 and 3 months worth of work cancelled, then the calls started again as we are essential all of a sudden. So much for being worried I had too much work planned for 2020. I had time to read the news and see all the horrible things that happened over the year. It was a crazy one. Not soon forgotten.
Locust swarms in Africa like in biblical times, Brexit, Megxit, George Floyd then black lives matter protests, justice for Weinstein finally, so much of the world burning in forest fires and we lost so many trees and animals it was a real shame, Trump impeached...then lost the election (he doesn't know yet)....then gone....soon we all hope and not a real shame; stockpiling toilet paper that was to save us from a world pandemic which has been in the news non stop since March, tictok was banned by Trump....or was it as he seemed to forget he did it.....I forget now, twitter was hacked, I think. So many hacks I cannot name them all nor does anyone really know them all. So what other wonderful things happened in this pandemic year? Anti-lockdown protesters armed with M-16s stormed Michigan's state capitol, anti pandemic protesters, then anti vaxers, anti lifers etc, all egged on by Trump....stand by he says to the boys of the far right. Trump teargassed peaceful protestors to get a photo op with a bible in front of a church, but that didn't go over well with the church or christians or anyone really. Ontario locked down so many times, another ebola outbreak in July in the Congo, Ivanks's 'Let them eat cake' campaign then bean ads for Trump supporters and it was so transparent Ivanka!! A privately funded border wall.....or wait that was for Steve Bannon not the wall so shall we call it the private Steve Bannon fund. UFO pictures from the pentagon, and we cannot forget the Covid 19 virus that ended life as we know it. Lock-downs, sickness, overworked health care workers, lack of PPE and death. I personally know 5 people with Covid, one died. I went to my first virtual funeral. What a year and most people just want to look forward to a better 2021. We sure started this decade off with a bang.
On a more personal note, this year I learned my eldest is expecting in 2021, my youngest had inguinal hernia surgeryI, I sold all my belongings including my home, packed up my two dogs, my cat and my sewing machine and my tear drop trailer and headed west like a free spirit. A load off my back by giving away all my things as they can hold onto you as well. Kind of like Christian in Pilgrims Progress as I head off to the great Perhaps, where ever God leads me. I am very optimistic that 2021 will be a good one. Lots of things will improve on the political and economic front and of course the baby front for me. I will be closer to my grandchild if I can ever cross the border into Washington state.