This past weekend marked the last step in a long chain of events in our move from the province of Alberta to British Columbia. We finally moved into our house!
Our journey started in the summer of 2021 when we packed (and I mean literally packed) the SUV and drove up, over, and around the Rocky Mountains to get to the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.
We moved during COVID lockdowns . . .
. . . and during the height of wildfire season . . .
. . . and during a “heat dome” event . . .
Oh, and then there was the “atmospheric river” event that caused massive flooding.
It seemed the universe was trying to keep us from our dream of living in the Lower Mainland. But we did it anyway.
For close to a year, we cuddled together in a tiny apartment in the suburbs. 900 square feet next to a busy road after living in an estate home on a nature reserve. It was tough, it was stressful, but it was a roof over our heads and a place to sleep. Between loud cars reenacting The Fast and the Furious franchise outside our window to the faulty fire alarm that went off multiple times a day when it was on the fritz, moving day couldn’t come soon enough.
When finally it came time to pack what we could and make a run for it, the days couldn’t go by fast enough. We counted the sleeps, we jammed the boxes, we hauled the goods. It took 2 days to move–once from our multiple storage lockers, then from the apartment to the house. After a gruelling 48-hour moving marathon, we spent our first night in our actual house in the mountains. Granted, it was a mattress on the floor amidst a sea of boxes, but we were finally home!
The dream of leaving prairie life, with its monstrous hail storms and tornadoes, to the calm serenity of mountain life came with some adjustments. For one, taking Mochi for a walk is now a hike since we live on a mountain. With that walk, we carry bells as almost once a day one of the members of our household spots a bear. From juveniles to the big mama, bears are more common than deer. Instead of looking both ways for cars, we look left, right, up, and down for bears.
According to Google, we’re about 50m (165 -ish feet) above sea level here. We look out over a river valley and the sloughs that feed into it. Mornings are filled with bird song, although punctuated by the occasional piece of machinery since the area is still under construction.
It’s been almost a year in the making, but I can finally call someplace “home”. Be it ever so humble (and cluttered with boxes), there’s no place like home.
Even Mochi thinks so.
Now, somewhere in all these boxes are my writing journals. I guess it’s time to start unpacking!
Until next time
– Rissa
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