Quarter of a Century!!

Today I'm 25!

It's a lot to process. I feel as if I'm entering a new era of being. I wouldn't say I feel old, most of my friends are in there thirty to forties and I don't consider them old. However, it feels different.....I suppose like a milestone. 

This year on my blog post I'm going to focus on the moments I feel have really shaped my character in the last 25 years. Looking back I am so grateful for the life I have had; I can't believe how blessed I have been. 

I was born in B.C the lower mainland and lived there till I was around nine years old. Some of my favourite memories in B.C were living in Sunshine Valley up in the mountains near Hope. It was also fun visiting extended family on both sides. 

When we moved to Ontario my life and pace of life changed pretty drastically. We moved a lot and there wasn't a whole lot of time to feel established anywhere. I do remember how much I loved living near so many lakes and all the fishing and swimming us kids would do in the summer. Winter was spent sledding and building snow forts. I got some of my first pets and developed a love for horses and animal care.

When I was thirteen I went to school for the first time. I was terrified and it took awhile to learn how to socialize and function within a school setting. However, even when I had the choice to go back to homeschooling I chose to stay in school. I realized that it was the only way I was going to be able to do sports due to family finances and sports was one of the few activities that made me feel so alive, strong, and confident. No matter what was going on in life I could escape it or channel the emotions into whatever physical activity I was in at the time. Sports gained me respect with my peers and school was honestly one of the places I felt I had the most stability. We moved a lot but it was always close enough to where I went to school. I appreciate both my homeschool and school experience. Homeschooling when I was younger allowed me to explore my own interests and become my own person with very little peer pressure to be a certain way. School provided opportunities that I wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise. Plus, it was really nice to have teachers to reach out to as well.

At 17 I went to Germany with my close friend and we worked on a horse farm there. I learned so much about horses and got to experience a new culture. 

Several days after high school graduation I began a five month internship at Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre. It was such a great way to enter the animal care world. I got to learn from hands on experience and learned how to work with high efficiency. The other interns were such a great peer group to enter the adult world with. 

After Sandy Pines, I had the goal to travel to Africa so I got a job for a year as a live in nanny in Toronto to cover the costs. This was my first time living in the city and although it was enjoyable, it helped me realize that the country is where my heart is at. 

Africa was the trip of a life time! It completely changed my perspective on so many things and challenged me to grow as a person. I made friends that I'm still very close with and having done it alone, I came home a much more confident individual and was far less afraid to try new things.

The fall of 2018 I went to college for Vet assistance at Durham college. School wasn't super challenging because I had learned most of the course material from working with animals previously. However, it offered me the opportunity to do a work placement at the Toronto Zoo which would have been hard to get into otherwise. Zoo Keeping at the Toronto Zoo was such a positive and incredible experience getting to work with animals I would have otherwise not been able to such as camels and tigers. 

Between being a Nanny and school I worked on and off at Absolute Equestrian which for me became like a home more then a job. I learned so much about horses, working hard, and I miss this barn family very much. 

After graduating from college I made the very impulsive decision to go tree planting. I was ready for another adventure, I needed money pretty badly, and I didn't feel ready to enter a career. To this day, tree planting I consider the best decision of my life. I had never done anything in my life that felt so true to who I was as a person. The intensity and repetitive nature of the job stripped me of all ego and forced me to confront my past in uncomfortable ways. The best way I could describe this would be like going on a vision quest. Spending that much time in raw nature and working with some of the most incredible people I have ever met was what I needed at that time in my life and it freed me.

And tree planting brought me back to the west coast. When I set foot in Courtenay Vancouver Island after my first season, I felt for the first time ever that I was home. I had wandered and finally found that place I wanted to call home.

After my second season I met Aiden and it was a similar feeling after that first kiss to the one I had when I set foot in Courtenay. I submitted  to that gut feeling and we started a life together. The life we have lived has been crazy, raw, beautiful, and wonderful. Through it all we have leaned on each other and I am incredibly blessed to have him. I have never felt so secure with someone, never trusted someone so fully with my vulnerabilities as I have Aiden. We share such a deep intimacy and even after two years of living together and having multiple children, I still want to spend all day every day with him. 

That's where I am at 25! Under the mountains in Courtenay living in a bus we converted, homesteading with the love of my life, my step son, our daughter, and in my third trimester of another pregnancy. I'm literally crying tears of joy. Life has been hard but it's been so beautiful and I couldn't be happier with where I am today.