In my mind’s eye, we awoke to a crisp sunny morning, hopped into our beautifully packed and organized van, swung by for an early breakfast with Bob (Dave’s Dad) and hit the road by 8:00am. In reality, after hitting the bank, finishing the last load of laundry, meeting with the accountant, making arrangements for Dave’s truck to be sold, picking up a new tag for Pippa and running some other errands under the threat of a imminent drizzle, we haphazardly threw the rest of our bags and bins and clothes into the back of the van and debated whether to hit the road on our “departure date” or stay one last night in Calgary. As I sat on my rapidly heating up phone on hold with the insurance company, Dave ran in to say a quick farewell to his Dad and we hit the road at 4:03 pm. As Calgary faded into the distance behind us, the rain started and I thought to myself, “what have we done?” 

The last few weeks were nothing short of miraculous chaos. The house got rented, emptied, fixed up and cleaned. The car got sold and the van got packed. It was a slog of epic proportions, but it all got done. And after all of the goodbyes and well wishes and wrapping things up at our respective workplaces, I think it is fair to say we are all exhausted. 

But with each kilometer we drove, more and more air filled our lungs and the tension we didn’t realize we had in our shoulders released its grip and we found ourselves singing to the radio.

As with all momentous occasions in life, our feelings are perhaps best summed up with a quote from Dr. Seuss:

We are on our way!