Beware the Baobabs

I suppose we did it to ourselves. We planned it and we did it... as is becoming our cliche, it's not a big deal because it was always a 'part of the plan when certain conditions were met'. And they ended up being met yesterday in pure concrete conversation with my wife and kids. It's a good thing we did it when we did because it seems returning to Canada was on the mind more than we thought. 'Children Beware the Baobabs!' (on a side, if anyone has not read The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Expury, i recommend you do it, if my opinion has any weight. Minou introduced that book to me in 1997 (?) in a rough time and it has turned into a very important part of my life and now my family's) If you do not take care of them when they are young they will grow too big to manage properly. What I mean by that is if Tamara and I hadn't finally discussed our desires then us and/or the boys cold have ended up in a place that would have been more difficult to respond from. We could have become resentful to each other for example, or maybe become poisoned to travel forever, or worse!!! Right now, I still have gypsy in me, but you know wanting to stay in one place is something I want to embrace.

How did this come to a point then? Well, as Tamara mentioned, she had been considering this for a while now but it never was acute enough to rilly talk about. That's female nature. As it was guy nature to all of a sudden drop the bomb one fine morning after a good morning. I woke up early tortured in my mind by the 'what the heck did I do to my family?' So because I had the option I left the house and went for a swim in the ocean. I spent about a half hour floating and swimming back and forth thinking about leaving, staying, returning, seeing someplace else, etc, but I had to always end up at the same place, it doesn't make sense anymore to my family. That was our turning point since we began this quest. The boys wanted Canada, Tamara wanted a home again and all that goes with it, and I didn't have the feeling this was going to work anymore, and obviously, I'm not a tyrant. There was the fact that we did not spend as much time as we should have in locations and we travelled too much. That turned off the boys for sure. They HATED moving around so much, and to be honest, looking at everything and wondering what was expendable, was getting tiring. I knew it was getting bad when I considered the boys as well. Ok, ok, kidding, but you guys with kids know what I'm talking about. We could have (should have?) stayed longer in Montezuma, and Monteverde but decided against it. Why? I am sure that one day in the future Tamara and I will be sitting in our comfortable Winnipeg home and we'll talk about this trip.

What else was there then? Well, I still wanted to go to Mexico, because you never know! But, since the return was almost 100% inevitable, the Ukrainian practical side came out and I realised it was just a big expense for minimal return and that money would be better served buying appliances for a new home than on a warm trip. So after deciding this in my head, where would we go?

Yeah, rilly., where? Finishing the plan in BC was tough because prices are ridiculous for just a lot in Nelson area. Edmonton is still there and we will visit, but i guess we did give it a try already didn't we? 2.5 years and it wasn't exactly as we wanted. East sounds good and has potential, but of all places Winnipeg sounded better. Old friends (hopefully I am welcomed back with the family even though in my youth I have not been the greatest advocate of The Peg- I would like to stress that was in my youth when I was drunk for about 8 years), there was familiarity for me, homes are still affordable, there is sales tax (but not for the boys, yay!), it is a new place to try out, and among many other reasons, the boys' only Gido is there. So now we begin the chapter in our lives in Winnipeg.

I hope I enjoy my last few days in Belize, but being who I am, once I have a plan set, other things fall on the wayside. Right now i think, why didn't we just book tix for tomorrow since we are doing it anyways? Oh well. For whatever reason, it's probably a good idea to enjoy ourselves for the next 11 days, hopefully not being sick anymore, because reality may be that the ocean is not in our future. Who knows. I am looking forward to this move. I have not lived there since I took off to live in Calgary with Tim in the Fall of 2001. I still remember packing Poops' truck, I still remember partying at Oktopberfest the night before (well barely, in all honesty, I remember almost winning a trip to Munich? nah, probably was too loaded), I still remember what a great life I had begun in The Peg only to drop it and try to build it up again in Calgary. I was well on my way with a good job, meeting people, having fun, but I had to try Calgary. I am not worried. Winnipeg was looking good, I had a future in Calgary. Unfortunately, Calgary did not reciprocate with a decent playing field for that future. It was my favourite city though. Edmonton was a done deal! I even had a pension! So I am confident that The Peg will be kind to us as well.

We'll rent a home, buy, or stay at Mom and Dad's for the time being. I'll find a job. Tamara will start up Partylite again. Callym can go to Cadochok or playschool, Oscar will keep growing, and we'll go from there. I am upbeat for the move. I will enjoy living in The Peg again. I will look forward to The Bombers going on their cup run again in 2008, and being part of the stadium. So many different events. I am looking forward to living life again in Canada! Earth can't be wrong, right?