It Takes A Village

 

Happy Friday everyone! I hope your week has been fantastic! Sam had his first flu experience this week and that was absolute misery! Thankfully, it was a short one and the next morning he woke up like his old self!

My parents really came to the rescue the day that Sam began getting sick. Mom ran over to help me watch Sam while I cleaned up all the vomit and Dad stopped in at a pharmacy for supplies on his way home from the city. It was kind of ironic that it was all happening on November 11 and it had me thinking about how lucky I am to have them so close. 7 years ago on November 11, I arrived home from a long drive from British Colombia, where I use to live.

 

I was finished my last semester in University and had been dating the same guy since the beginning. Our relationship was rocky but love can make you do foolish things. When he announced he’d be returning home to British Colombia to work and invited me to come along, I agreed.

At first I thought it was the beginning of a very fun adventure. I was looking forward to experiencing life out west. It took 3 days to drive out to my new home but when I arrived I felt excited.

I got a job that I loved pretty quickly! My job started to become the only thing that I liked about being there. My relationship became a constant stress in my life and I wanted so badly to leave but my job and feeling of failure prevented me from packing my bags.

I came home for Thanksgiving in 2007 and the day that I returned to British Columbia, I quit my job and declared that I was leaving! I packed up what I could in my Jeep Liberty and drove 16-18 hours a day until I made it home! You can read a little side story about that here.

As I mentioned, I arrived home on November 11 and haven’t left home since (literally, I still live in the same house I grew up in as a kid). Since then obviously my life has changed dramatically. New job, married and now I have a son. There are many times that I remind myself how different life would be if I hadn’t returned home. How I would hardly know my niece/nephews, wouldn’t have met Ryan and how I wouldn’t have my close family and friends there.

I was reminded again of this fact yesterday after I posted Sam’s 7 Month update post. Comment after comment came from my closest friends/family, people who are very important to me but who will also be a huge part of Sam’s life. I know the love they expressed for Sam is genuine as I feel the same about them and the important people in their life. I have a list  about 100 people long that I know I can call if I was in a bad situation, if I needed a helping hand or if I just needed a friendly face. 

While I am sure if I had stayed out West I would have had people I may have gotten close to eventually. But I wouldn’t have the same level of trust with those acquaintances and I wouldn’t have my family available to me with just a simple phone call. Sam is lucky to have this village of people to love him and watch him grow. Whereas Ryan and I are lucky to have so many people to trust and fall back on when we needed parenting help or advice. It’s the joys of living in a small community and a continued confirmation that I made the right choice in coming home.

Happy Friday!

xo