When I left the Tacoma to move to Halifax I didn’t really leave too much behind. Don’t get me wrong, I have a strong love for the 253 and the Big Brother city of Seattle. What I knew I loved about where I was from was easily found in the place I was going. I’m as close to the open waters in Halifax as I was out West. My love for “local” Starbucks easily replaced by my new found local love Java Blend. The hours spent running through Old Town Tacoma, Point Defiance Park and Chambers Bay easily replaced by Point Pleasant Park, Shubie and the Chain of Lakes trails and even though I miss my friends and colleagues terribly, I’ve forged some pretty incredible friends here in Atlantic Canada…
What I miss more than I could even begin to explain is my niece Amy.
All I can say is thank goodness for face time.
Being able to see her face when our schedules allow has helped lessen the angst I feel when I think about being this far away from her. I’ve made a lot of decisions in my life based on whether or not it would affect her in any way and even moving to Halifax to be with Mimi didn’t come without the “what about Amy” thought process…
This past Christmas Amy did something that brought tears to my eyes as I realized this little sumo baby of a girl that’s been the light of my life is in fact a grown woman about to embark on a new journey:
She got engaged.
Now there’s one thing I would not miss for anything and that’s being back in the 253 to watch my little ray of sunshine marry her perfect match come September 21st of this year…
But in order not miss this once in a lifetime event Mimi and I have had to come to the hard to decision that traveling back to the West Coast twice in a short amount of time is not financially possible considering our current work situation (meaning she works and I still can’t and we don’t have a few thousand dollars just laying around to fly back and forth on a whim).
After hours of discussion and lots of emotions we both know that attending Fitbloggin13 this year just isn’t going to happen.
It’s hard not to feel disappointed at the thought of not going when we had such an amazing time last year. The discussion we moderated was awesome and the general consensus was that it was heart felt and much needed. As soon as we were on our way back to Halifax we began to talk about Fitbloggin13 and our plans to return. When the call for sessions was announced we immediately threw in our names and when we found out that we would be returning once again as moderators we started scheming on how we were going to make it work. Donations started coming in to help offset the cost of airline tickets and we set about trying to make two trips back West in a short amount of time doable…
But then reality set in.
It’s not possible (unless one of us hits the lotto and since I’m not sure I can even participate in the Canadian lotto system I’m pretty sure that’s not going to happen anytime soon). Taking a big deep breath, a resignation of knowing what is true, we have officially withdrawn from Fitbloggin13.
Yes we’ll miss all our friends (including those that we would have made while in Portland) but now we can focus on what’s really important to both of us and that’s seeing Amers walk down the aisle and beginning a new chapter in her life. This will also give us more time to be on the West Coast visiting the places that I miss without feeling rushed. We’ve begun making a new itinerary to include a road trip down to San Francisco (Mimi’s never been) and making sure to see as many people as possible while we’re back on the West Coast.
It was a hard decision.
It is the right decision.
No doubt about it.