Michelle's Journal

I've been away from this journal for a long while. I'm not even quite sure how to begin an entry. A friend suggested to me when I was back in Ontario on the weekend that I ought to start it up again. I guess with everything I was going through last spring, I just couldn't write - too much to do and too many feelings.

But it feels like spring in Vancouver today. And I'm getting back to the things that matter to me and help me stay grounded. I suppose this is one of those things.

I don't know how to begin an update since last May... So much has happened! I imagine no one even checks this anymore. And anyone who matters knows what the recent months have entailed for me...

My last trip back to Ontario last weekend for JJ's wedding (which was actually my first trip back to Toronto area since last spring) was wonderful - I hadn't realized how much I missed the energy of that city - or the energy of my friends. I was worried that the connections wouldn't be as strong as they were - that so much time had passed and I had neglecting being in contact for so long that things would just be awkward. I was pleasantly delighted that getting together for meals, for tea and for walks around the city with different people just felt natural and normal - I could have been there the week prior. Sure there was a lot to catch up on, but it all felt so comfortable. That's how it should be with good friends. I'm so lucky to have some pretty great people in my life.

I'm going to head back again in March -the trip just left me wanting more!...

I suppose in honour of this whole journal, some sort of comment around adjusting to life in BC... I began this journal as a way of processing it all (and also I suppose of also keeping those back home up to date). I feel settled here - my apartment feels as much like home as anything could at this stage in my life. Work has gotten about ten thousand times better - the hard work of those left of the team has paid off and the new people who've started lately have brought some fresh energy and it's just generally a happier place to be. People are choosing our facility as well - which is an amazing success. I used to call people and they'd cry and hang up on me when I gave bed offers. That was just not fun.

I still sometimes wonder how things would different if I hadn't moved out here - but just for fun and not in a weird obsessively regretful way like I used to.

I'm glad I chose this. Hard as it's been. I've grown.

I don't have much more to write at the moment. But I'm glad I've broken the ice with this whole journal thing. I'm going to make an effort to come back to it more often.

Oh and just because I like having plugs - see Juno - it is absolutely adorably funny and awkward.