in a nutshell - first installment

The first year I was out of high school I ... did nothing. Next to nothing. It was like I longed for a year of nothing. I'm not sure that longing has ever really left me despite having experienced it. :) I took one college class at CBC in Abbotsford with my mom and Shari B. Other than that I didn't have a job or a life or anything. I don't know WHAT I did. What did I do? Oh. I went on a 2 week missions trip to Mexico but beyond that I have few memories. But all is not lost. I did not continue doing nothing. For the following year I headed off to Capernwray on Thetis Island. More precisely it is a wee island off of Vancouver Island which is a rather large island off of the west coast of British Columbia in Canada. Got that? Good. I loved Capernwray. I spent two years there in total. It was awesome. It was life changing. I still get Cape cravings. The beauty that met me each morning and evening as I walked to and from classes was second to none. I met a guy there who asked me to marry him and I said yes. In my heart I knew it wasn't a good idea and thankfully I got out of that relationship. Of course at that time it was a major ordeal and I had to learn and unlearn much from it. When I was finished my second year of Cape my parents decided that we were moving to Vernon in zee bootiful Okanagan. For some reason I never missed Abbotsford despite the many good years there. Maybe it was the two years of being at Capernwray that didn't make it hard to leave. I learned to love Vernon quickly. I worked and played there for 2 ½ years and I don't think I've ever had so much fun as I did then. If I had had my own way I would still be there but then other good things couldn't have happened and that's just the way it is. I decided to go on a boat trip that would take me from Vancouver to Haiti via the Panama Canal. The trip would be 10 months long and the goal of the trip was to deliver the boat we were on to Haiti in order to establish a marine-based mission. A boat would be able to reach many people that roads could not. That trip was insane. This was no pleasure cruise and I have many close call life and death stories from that period of my life. I also cut my hair short short and that felt like life and death! I came back in one piece and when I got to the Vancouver airport I kissed the ground. I went home to Vernon and quickly discovered that there was no work to be had. I was also craving to move out on my own. Through a series of events I found a job in Calgary as a receptionist at a large church. I sadly left Vernon behind to my next big adventure.

Photo 1 - big hair circa 1992
Photo 2 - daily view at Capernwray
Photo 3 - my favourite tree on the road to my house in Vernon
Photo 4 - the boat I lived on July '97 to May '98
Photo 5 - as tanned as I'll ever be during my trip whilst in Haiti
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