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" Go Confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined."

This is my personal mantra. I read it for the first time several years ago and instantly connected with it. It made sense in an inspiring, tough love kind of way. These words have come in handy during some tough and stressful times over the years, when I question myself whether what I am doing is really worth all the pain, stress and sacrifice. What I love about these words is that they force me to imagine the life I want to live, and most importantly, what goals I must achieve in order to live life that way. To date, after asking myself these questions, I always find myself feeling justified and refocused, and realising that whatever I'm working on is certainly worth the effort.

In December 2010, a couple of weeks before my 28th Birthday, Trent and I were wandering through the One of a Kind Artisan Christmas Show in Ottawa. For those of you who have never been, this is a show full of vendors who sell art, jewelry, crafts, artisan food, furniture and clothing. It is always a great place to find unique gifts for others or yourself. That day we came upon a man who made pieces of jewelry that had tiny inscriptions on them. He had several hundred options of many sayings and quotes on all different shaped earings necklaces and braclets. I loved the uniqueness of each one, as he had handcrafted each individually himself. I looked for several minutes inspecting each piece and reading the different inscriptions. Disappointed that he didn't seem to have a piece with my words on it, I almost left the table empty handed. But, being the great salesman that he was, he handed me a list of possible sayings that he had in stock. It turned out he had mine.

My Necklace

Being that it was Christmas and I was supposed to be buying other people gifts, I did not have a lot of extra cash to put towards a gift for myself. I became even luckier that day when Trent saw in my eyes how much I loved the piece and that it was something that would mean alot for me to have. He helped me pick out the one I wanted,  handed his Visa to the man, and told me he would hang onto it until my upcoming birthday. While it was no shock when I opened the gift a few weeks later, the necklace became one of my most treasured pieces of jewelry and one of the most meaningful Birthday gifts I had ever received.

It is this very same necklace that has become my good luck charm throughout this whole process. I have worn it during every flight, while Huff was travelling, the day we were reunited, and the day she came home. I have worn it on days when I was feeling uneasy that our plans may fall through or that my physio licence wouldn't be approved. Its words have provided me strength, and forced me to ask myself about the life and goals I was working towards.


Today I realised we were living the life I had imagined. We had finally made it.

Let me backtrack and catch you up. On Monday morning Trent and I awoke to an early morning start (though neither of us had slept much through the night).  10 days were up, and we could finally bring Huff home! We headed back up to Shado Lans with her new collar and leash in hand and, after performing all the necessary administrative duties, we were allowed to let her loose. She saw me get out of the car with the leash and collar in hand, and when I waved and called her name from the gate, she erupted into a wild bum wiggling, tail whipping mess. This, we soon found out, was only a minimum level on her excitement scale. When we opened the door to her suite she nearly knocked both Trent and I over with the force of her excited greetings, and it took both of us to calm her down enough to put on her collar.

She was finally coming home.


The day we brought her home was one of the most beautiful days we have had since being in New Zealand. The sun was warm, the sky was clear, and the wind was low; the perfect day for her first walk on the beach. Huff was beside herself with joy, and Trent and I weren't too far behind her. We spent 2.5 hours on the beach that day, half during the afternoon and the other half at sunset. On rare occasions, life hands you an honestly perfectly formed day. I consider this one of them.

Every morning since Monday, we have spent an hour or more taking long walks on the beach with  Huff, enjoying what is left of our time off. Huff runs around exploring, smelling and peeing on just about everything she finds interesting.Such locations have included bushes, dead fish, sandcastles and shells.  More than once she has tried to mark her spot and discovered that her bladder was fresh out of pee, but she seems to manage the tiniest drop to leave her scent on the desired location. Trent and I walk and play with her, as we inspect the ever changing beach debris that the tide leaves behind each day. This usually contains an array of driftwood, seaweed, shells, fish and corral. Mostly we just feel lucky and grateful to be living life this way.

While Huff settles into her new lifestyle, and Trent tries to make a living as a professional sea shell collector,  I woke up on Tuesday to find that life had a big cup of goodness brewing for us this week. A call to the Physiotherapy Board of New Zealand confirmed that my application assessment had been completed and that I would be receiving mail the next day confirming that my application had been.....APPROVED!!!!!!! I kindly thanked the woman on the phone and quickly hung up in time to let out a shriek of pure joy and relief.  "YES!!!!!!!" were the only words that came out of my mouth as I flew down the short hallway from the bedroom to the kitchen into Trent's open arms. Huff came over, tail wagging, and did what she always does when Trent and I hug. She joined in.

 It was official. We had just received our ticket to a life in New Zealand.

Ironically, I had a first meeting with my New Zealand boss today. For those who don't know, I am working for a company called TBI Health in New Zealand, a sister company to CBI, who I worked for in Canada.This is part of the reason we chose New Zealand, as CBI had strong connections with TBI, and have done several employee transfers and inter company training over the years. It was an interesting feeling getting dressed and stepping back into the world of being a professional. We had been travelling for eleven and a half weeks. We had seen old friends, countless new places, relaxed, explored, and lived life by our own agenda. I did not regret a thing. This morning I knew that my mind and body were ready for the next step.

The clinic is nice and the staff is quite friendly and welcoming. It will take me some time to learn the new programs and insurance organisation, but I am looking forward to using my brain again, and sitting back in the learner's chair, instead of being the leader. I spent the day checking off the many " to dos" of settling into a new community; registering the dog with the city, purchasing some things for the house, mailing the board some important documentation, and getting a bus pass. It was nice to feel productive again.

I took the bus home, got off at my stop and stepped into the pouring rain. It was cold and wet, and I couldn't wait to get inside. As I opened the gate, I looked up. Through the rain I saw Trent and Huff sitting at the big picture window watching me and waving.

For the first time, I did not have to imagine what it would be like, or ask myself if it would be worth it. The finish line was in sight.

 We were finally home.