Changes

Turn and face the strange…. ch ch chaaaaaaangesssss….

(credits to the most awesome David Bowie for his inspiring lyrics, lifting us all to face the Changes)

And face them, we have. And face them, we continue to do.

In November of last year, we purchased a new home! We’re in a house!  Less stairs, less struggle to get down the stairs carrying a 40 lb sack of potatoes in the early morning pre-coffee hours… And as for future challenges, we are equipped to be able to install a lift to assist us with the challenges of caring for a person with limited mobility.

Our decision to move houses did not come lightly. We found ourselves moving from a stacked townhouse full of stairs in a busy city, with very little interaction with kids or neighbours, to a two storey home in a smaller town, with less traffic and a street full of children playing outside. How did this happen? Ah blink and there you have it. Queue the renovations. Queue the “missing” and/or “misplaced” objects. OK so we didn’t end up in Utopia, that’s ok, it happens. The important thing is that the kids are safe, settled and included! We’ll miss that old place..

And miss it we do! We miss the ethnic grocery stores nearby and the very large choice of multi-ethnic cuisine. We miss being close to our parents, we miss our old school and the love they have given us over the past year, we miss the closer commute to our respective workplaces, we miss our glorious garage, we super really miss our most awesome therapy team. Things we don’t miss? Traffic! Noise! Pollution! Sketchy drug-dealing activity at the plaza on the corner! Stairs! Feeling isolated in our vertical box of a house, and the coldness of being in a busy city.

So speaking of changing homes, the kids will also be changing schools, and as a result, school boards. As you can well imagine, the prospect of this change has been quite stressful. After just overcoming all the hurdles getting Pepper into her JK year, the idea of having to go through this all over again has been terrifying. But, it’s been ok! I mean, we’ve really been blessed. With the help of our previous school and the efficiency of our new school, we have been welcomed, and included!! Naturally, there will be challenges ahead of us, no matter where we go, or don’t go, but so far, we have been welcomed. How very comforting.

One thing that is certain in life. One thing that could be seen as comforting for it’s permanence is that you can always count on change. There will always be change in your life. Small change, large change, life altering change, but absolute dynamic change. We all know it’s stressful, we all know it can crush your spirit and make you doubt. The only true way to temper that stress, to challenge that uncertainty and doubt is to roll with it. Turn and face the strange changes..

Spare any change?