East Coast Adventuring

Hi from NB!

In less than 24 hours of watching my sister formally combine her own life with her soul mate’s life, I was flying across the country to see my very dear friend and her Boyfriend. I was fortunate enough to spend five glorious days in St. John, New Brunswick.

How lucky am I?

Laura played tour guide as we ate salad at the local market (twice), tasted local, New Brunswick wine (on several sloppy evenings) and I even redeemed the week with a quick run on Friday morning. Among other treasures, I acquired East Coast Lifestyle paraphernalia, a yoga mat, for our Hot Yoga and coffee morning, a tattoo and a Palm Reading book from a second hand bookstore. Laura kept saying how easy I was to entertain: one morning we went to Irving Nature Park and walked around the 600 acre walking paths with a constant view of the Sea. We went to Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy, where on low tide, we walked around the Sea Floor viewing the beautiful Fowerpot Rocks. We then continued to Cape Enrage where I had Crab Tacos for the first time (I maintained a pescatarian diet for this week). Honestly, my favorite part of the trip was venturing to the city center with the only intent of getting day drunk on the Boardwalk – full ocean in view.

It was an amazing trip; I’ve quite honestly fallen in love with St. John and have strong ambitions to move East once my contract in Vanderhoof ends. I am captivated with it small town vibes, mass amounts of green space and the general lifestyle. I may have found my happy place. 

FlowerPot Rocks

The entire week away I kept telling myself how fortunate I am to be able freely take these trips. How privileged am I that I can afford to indulge and plan these mini and large travel adventures? How lucky am I that my debt is under control and I can spend my hard earned dollars on traveling rather than credit card bills. But, then I realized that the key to this is hard earned dollars. I have worked my ass off to get to where I am in my life. I gave up five years of my life to acquire my degree and it’s me alone paying off those student loans. A very smart man once told me to write a Life List and that anything else that I wanted meant that something needed to come off that Life List. So I drive my ’02 Sunfire and I rarely buy new clothing and eating out is a special occasion. I will never own a house; I do not want those payments. I gave up a five year relationship to have this gipsy lifestyle and I am very vocal that traveling is something I will not sacrifice and being a mother is a identity I will never have.

When people ask me where I am planning on going next and without hesitation explain that I will be traveling/volunteering in Asia for six or more months come September, 2016, they always tell me how exciting that is and how they would never be able to do that. I tell them that they could and it’s just about their priorities. I think everyone should create a Life List and take some thought into how strongly they want to achieve those goals. Ask yourself if what you’re doing today is getting you to where you want to be tomorrow. This is the only life I have, so, what are you doing with yours?

 

Kindly,

Kirstin 

You know all those things you wanted to do? You should go do them.

The MOH Speech

Dear Shawna & Scott

I think today will pass by quickly and will be full of laughter and giddiness. The night won't be complete until you spill wine down your amazing dress. You're memories of today won't be of walking down the isle, it'll be of Kevin damn near killing himself three sheets to the wind when he decides to ride Scott's bike. It'll be of Dad's typical loud and emotional speech - slightly intoxicated. Scott's favorite moment won't necessarily be of you walking down the 'isle', it'll be the newness of that wedding band on his finger.

Honestly, I don’t believe this is going to be the happiest day of your life. I do think the happiest days are of your life are going to be a direct result of today. Because of today, you know your life path is headed to exactly where you want to go: together.

The happiest days of your life are going to be collection of small moments. They will be casual moments that aren’t expected, like Willow making her very first dessert without your help, like you and Scott buying matching his and her bikes – and then being called out on it. Moments that are a direct result of future inside jokes, of snuggling on the grass and reading books– it's not those grand gestures that matter. They are moments that you don't even realize, like the man at the Vietnamese restaurant knowing your exact orders because you and Scott are regular customers. 

I also think that the best days of your life are a direct result of hardship, because you can’t appreciate unconditional love without the trials and errors of disappointments, full blown meltdowns and verbal diarrhea. It’s about those feelings of relief when you’re able to hug Willow after accidentally locking her in your broken down Neon. It’s about apologizing for what you said when you were hungry and tired and being forgiven for it. Love is taking back ultimatums and letting someone choose to be with you.

I believe that love is friendship set on fire. It’s about finding someone who is in love with your crazy. The happiest days of your life come from waking up every morning choosing to love each other. Because Love is Choice.  And I think this wedding is simply a statement and a celebration of that.

Sometimes is not about the 9 page love letter. Sometimes, it's just about the 9 page love letter being written in your favorite colour.