Tag: Past

Change, More Than A Move. Who We Were Has Gone.

Dwayne March 8, 2016 2 Comments

Change is underway, and it’s due to more than a move. It’s a new, and different, life. So many things we’ve taken for granted will no longer be part of our lives.

I guess you could say that the move is the impetus for this change, and you wouldn’t be far off, however it’s more than that. It’s the way we think, it’s the change in our priorities at this stage of our lives. It’s simply who we are, and who we are becoming. Who we were has gone.

Likely very few of you know that we were even considering moving away from our home town of approximately 55 years. It’s something we’ve been talking about for a number of years but has never reached critical mass until just recently. And critical mass it did reach.

We were making plans to list our home and had talked about the issues and potential issues around that plan. When should we list, how much should we ask, what about timing for the listing? Maureen’s questions were around her job, whether to retire or quit and then return to work in our new home town. Then of course where to we look to purchase once we relocate? We have already determined Kelowna will be the destination but what in what area there will we try to set up shop?

Much of this was pre decided for us however. Prior to even listing our house we had a potential buyer through word of mouth. That meeting has become an accepted offer, with a possible transfer of ownership and possession as early as mid-April. Wow! Wow, that was fast.

This has, of course, forced our hands in a few areas. Our planned/expected move that was to take place June/July has now advanced 2 months. All factors that hinged on that will now also have to change.

Personally …… I believe I’m ok with all of this, the move and all the changes around it. I think Maureen is as well, although a little more tenuously perhaps. These changes are certainly more significant for her, she is forced to undergo more changes at one time than I am.

I have made my peace with the change. I tell myself that anyway, and in my gut I feel it. For whatever reason(s) I am ready. Perhaps it’s because everywhere I look I see change. I see changes in people, in my friends and acquaintances, both in who they are and how they are (relative to my wants/needs). There are changes in my town, my neighbourhood, my circles of living. My wants and goals have changed regarding my home and the property it’s on. How I want to spend my life has changed, and is changing constantly.

All this is good. All this is normal. We look upon it as another adventure. It’s an adventure we will go on together. It’s the future, move forward and don’t look to the past. Looking at the past is like looking at the wake from a boat your travelling in. It’s what was, there is no changing it. Look forward to where you’re steering the boat, that’s what is important.

A Stroll Through the Past

Dwayne May 31, 2013 4 Comments

My stroll through the past continues. Yesterday I took a mental-health day and I used my time to look through some old photos of Noreen’s and scan those appropriate for my trip through history. I can’t describe how nostalgic it made me feel.

One photo in particular struck me, of the hundreds I viewed and scanned, and it was of Aunt Eleanor with a young girl. That little lady is probably well-grown now and likely has kids of her own. If you know who it is please let me know. I will ask Noreen as well, could be her daughter, or grand-daughter.

The photo caught me by surprise in a couple of ways, in the likeness of Aunt Eleanor and how I remember her best, and in my reaction to it. To say I was touched was a wild understatement. I was happy, and sad, at the same time.

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Aunt Eleanor with friend

So many of the photos I looked at brought out some emotions in me, whether curiosity or sadness, happiness or delight. Almost all took me on a trip through time. I traveled to places I know not, to a time before my own, in some cases to visit family I never had the pleasure to meet.

Perhaps that is part of my yearning, to re-meet those I haven’t seen for so long, and to become acquainted with those I’ve never met. Perhaps it’s that clock within me that’s ticking away, telling me that so much time has passed and I should, no, NEED, to see those we call kin. Too much of the importance of family has been lost.

I suspect if we ask most people under 30, maybe even those under 40 or 50, if they see importance in history they likely reply with a no. I’m not talking Roman history or the history of civilization. I’m referring to family history. Something that was once taught and passed down through generations. It was part of our oral traditions.

Now that dialogue and the associated history is becoming less than a memory except for some. In our passage there’s becoming fewer and fewer to walk with, fewer to stroll through the past with. Where has that history, that story, gone? I’m feeling lost.