One Week Out....

I've been training for a year! All of my hard work - my blood, sweat, and tears, will culminate in a beautiful moment in just 7 days time. Yes, the rest of our normally jubilant little town may be suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome brought on by the onslaught of the 2007 Canada Winter Games; but me, I'm still a week out from the event that will mark a monumental no-turning back kind of shift in my life.

Whereas all those wonderful orange-coated volunteers are now lying in veteran hospitals taking lithium due to the aftershocks of an event so large, so monumental, yet so.....uneventful.....I am happily wiping the droppings of the bluebird of happiness off my shoulder. (give her some slack - she's still a beast of the wilderness you know).

Ah yes, my epic journey, finally looming large at the doorway of my future.

In one week's time I will hit the open road; just me, my dog, and um, my mom, in my Honda Civic. Pointed south for open skies and warmer climes. I have quit my job, rented my place, explained thoroughly (and several times) to my cats the reason I am abandoning them for five months; I've paid off all my debts, ripped out all my carpets, painted, and almost finished putting in lovely new floors upstairs in preparation for the big event.

Why am I doing this you ask? Or maybe you don't, but you ARE reading this so suck it up baby..........um, anyway, again, what is this all about? Well, I have decided to test the waters of pure joyful unemployed existence. For five months I will be roaming Saskatchewan, couch surfing where possible, selling Jone's body for food and shelter where not....

It has been ten years since I traveled anywhere of note, and 11 years since moving to this lovely territory. It's time to shake things up. To be at a dinner party and experiment with how I will answer when people ask 'So what do you do?' I remember this fellow telling me once that it would be so much more meaningful if people would ask 'So who ARE you?' That never happens at dinner parties, and possibly not a lot in most people's day-to-day lives anymore. So I'm takin' it to the street to see what happens. Who AM I, really? What is it that brings me joy, that makes me feel confident and proud to walk in the world? What allows me to just BE?

So you may wonder why Saskatchewan....well, it is like my life is coming full circle. I ran from the flatlands 11 years ago, thinking that I could never get as far away from them as I wanted to. Now, after many years of reflecting, I realize it is time to go home - just for a little while - to reconnect with the roots of my 'self', to know part of who I am by discovering and loving where I came from.

So - take that CWG! I'll continue to wear my orange proudly, I'm even taking it with me; and I'll be thinking of you when the ads come out - 1800 athletes, 2000 coaches, 4000 volunteers, and 18,000 IV bags required to rehydrate them all on March 11th....but I'll tell ya, my countdown trumps yours any day of the week!