This past weekend marks my One Year Anniversary living and working here in ‘merica and overall it has been a very positive experience. There have definitely been times when it was tough, or lonely, or when homesickness got a good hold on me but they have been fleeting periods. Since I have been here I have had a great chance to see many new things, climb new mountains (both physical and metaphorical) and have met many people that I am proud to call friends.

Professionally I know that I have taken on many new things and have achieved some huge goals that I didn’t think were possible a year ago; or more accurately, couldn’t have even conceived of a year ago. I don’t tend to talk about work on this site, and I’ll generally keep it that way but since it was the whole reason I came down here it definitely deserves a few column inches. I am pleased with the professional relationships I have forged, and the lessons I have learned along the way. I am really curious to see what the next year brings!

After a year I don’t have any earth-shattering profundities or soul changing revelations, just a sense that my time here has been worth the cost so far. Even today, as the novelty has completely worn off of the “new city” and the “new job” and the “new place to explore” I still find things that are interesting and challenging and keep me on my toes. My experience so far with Search And Rescue has been a true lifeline for me. The training was intense and real-world, and the close-knit feeling of the group was by far the best part of my week for a long time. I do want to extend a sincere and significant Thank You to everyone that I’ve met here that has become a new friend, to all my friends in Calgary who have stuck with me, and especially to my family who I know is always there for me.

Ok, ok, they’re bringing up the orchestra so I should get off the stage but let me wrap up by quoting myself, a “myself” from a year ago:

This opportunity has taught me something else about myself though, I like challenges and I like being out of my comfort zone, I like confronting the unknown (and I like triumphing as well!) I believe life is about adventure and with the right frame of mind adventure can be found in many different places: the back yard, the mountains, the wider world, and in this case, a new job in a new city. The difficult thing with adventure is that it’s so often synonymous with adversity and how often do you roll out of bed in the morning and say “oh boy! A chance to face more adversity!”… yeah. I guess this is my way of acknowledging that this change, this adventure, will come with it’s dark moments and it’s downtimes.

So I say, bring on the adventure! Bring on the good times and the bad times and everything in between! (source)

And what kind of “mussings” post would it be without a little insight from my good friend, my poetic Rock, Mr. Robert Service:

Have you gazed on naked grandeur
where there’s nothing else to gaze on,
Set pieces and drop-curtain scenes galore,
Big mountains heaved to heaven, which the blinding sunsets blazon,
Black canyons where the rapids rip and roar?
Have you swept the visioned valley
with the green stream streaking through it,
Searched the Vastness for a something you have lost?
Have you strung your soul to silence?
Then for God’s sake go and do it;
Hear the challenge, learn the lesson, pay the cost.