A Moving Experience

Our surroundings are familiar and yet rather strange to Lona and me.  A Paul Simon lyric echoes in my head – Nothing is different, but everything's changed.  The moving van arrived to take most of the contents of our cottage in PEI.  This was our fourteenth year spending the beginning of June to the beginning of October at our cottage in this wonderful place – of sun and sand and labyrinth and beautiful sunrises and sunsets.  But all things must end and we decided early this year that this would be our last. 

We both truly regret this, but the reality is that our eightieth decade is fast approaching and the trip from Ontario to the cottage and back is becoming more than we can manage for many reasons including having our feline animal companion with us.  She (the companion) travels pretty well but enclosing her in the carrier is a challenge each time.  So, it is time to say goodbye to this place and the people that we know and love – particularly the parishioners at St. Alban’s Anglican church in Souris where I have had the privilege to serve in my retirement from parish ministry.

As I noted above – at time of writing, the moving van arrived yesterday and removed most of our possessions.  It took us about a month to get to this point with organizing and packing what we would move to our other home; what we would take with us in the car when we leave; what we would sell – Lorna discovered the benefit of listing things on Marketplace and she managed to sell quite a few of the things we didn’t want to move back to Ontario. 

It has been quite a journey so far and we haven’t even left the cottage yet.  I would not have thought that a cottage would mean there was that much which required organizing, packing, securing and putting in boxes – which of course require taping up once they are securely packed – not as easy as it sounds.  Fortunately, Lorna is excellent in this kind of an endeavor and did so much to get us to this point.

The movers were very effective and efficient and managed to get everything loaded on a very big trailer – 53’ long which is the biggest allowed (at least when I was working on trucking policy in a previous life).  This took only a few hours.  Everything was on track until they had a problem pulling out of the laneway – no traction for the truck tractor.  It didn’t look promising but a neighbour with a farm tractor assisted the tractor trailer.

So here we are for the next week with the cottage pretty much empty – but not quite.  We are getting along with few amenities.  No tables or chairs – correction we have one wicker chair and Lorna and I are playing friendly musical chairs shifting between her desk in the cottage and mine (which is on Marketplace) in the bunkie.  We do still have our computers and the internet until we leave.  And yes, we do have sleeping accommodation.

As I said at the beginning, we are both very sad to leave all that has been such an important part of our life for the last fourteen years.  However, it is the correct decision.  We look forward to what the next stage of our life will bring.

May our journey to our Ontario home be blessed and may you be blessed on your journey.

Who’s Actually in Control?

Many years ago, in a former life, I attended a workshop as part of my then work as a civil servant.  I don’t remember the purpose of the workshop.  However, I do remember that the leader/facilitator asked the participants if they believed they were, for the most part, in control of their lives.  Most people put up their hands; however, I didn’t.

Looking back, I am not sure why I thought that at the time.  It could have been that many of the major events in my life growing up were beyond my control to a great extent.  My first real job was not one I had sought. I had lived in a number of different places growing up which were definitely beyond my control – that would be seven by my count.  Well, that understanding of control was certainly verified by recent events in my life.  If I had any illusions about being in control they were shattered in September.

I think T.S. Elliot had it wrong when he proposed that April was the cruelest month.  I would nominate September for that dubious honour.  September started out just fine being usually the nicest month for weather at our cottage in P.E.I.   That ended quite quickly when we had car problems.  Actually, the problem didn’t become evident right away.  Lorna and I were sitting in the car – a Volkswagen - in the parking lot of the supermarket in Souris when there was a loud bang in the back end of the car.  We were curious but there wasn’t anything obvious wrong.  We drove away cautiously back to the cottage with no apparent problem, However, after some cogitation and consultation, I decided to have it checked out at the dealer in Charlottetown.  I was advised that the issue was a coil spring as suspected but the bad news – not sure there was any good news – that the parts were on back order and they weren’t sure when they would arrive.  Consequently, I drove back to the cottage very nervously and cautiously but made it safely giving thanks to luck or perhaps God.

This led to a search for a replacement vehicle as we needed transportation back to Ford country (Ontario) in a few weeks which apparently could not be guaranteed by the dealer.  Lorna got into her sleuthing mode and tried to find a possible replacement.  I started to investigate spring problems with Volkswagens.   I discovered that there were problems with defective springs but my car had not been recalled.  On further investigation, I found that Transport Canada had recalled my model and year of vehicle but mine was not included due to an error.  This didn’t make any difference with VW Canada which didn’t cut any mustard with me.

While this was going on, Lorna wasn’t having much luck finding available vehicles – new or used - which would meet our needs i.e., space to transport our belongings and the head of the family – Trixie the cat.  Fortunately, she eventually found one and to make a long story a little less long, we ended up with a new Nissan -more than we were looking for but more than we could ask or imagine – and very thankful it was available.  This was only because the financing fell through on the original purchase.  You may be aware that there is a shortage of vehicles available on car lots these days because of supply chain issues and various things I don’t fully understand such as inflation and the war in Ukraine.  In any case, we were very thankful to have dependable transportation which enabled us to get back to our Ontario home safe and sound.  We were very fortunate to have the loan of a vehicle from a neighbour to do our exploration of the few vehicles available. 

However, that is not the end of the story about September events.  Almost immediately after solving our transportation challenges, we were dealt another challenge in the form of Hurricane Fiona.  We were able to prepare in some ways, such as stocking up on some food and water, but were without power and therefore water being on a well, for five days which stretched the limits of our preparation.  We escaped the fury of Fiona with no damage to ourselves or our buildings property and dealt with the one tree on the bunkie with the help of neighbours – no damage thankfully.  We were provided assistance at the warming centre in Souris and all was well.

In all this we fared much better than others, for no apparent reason, in ways that were beyond our control for the most part.  I’m not sure if there is a reason why we were so fortunate but perhaps it comes down to good luck or fortune smiling on us for no apparent reason.  In all this, I do know that I was not in control of much that happened.  I am not sure if anything was in control – whether fate or fortune.   My theology doesn’t hold that God was pulling the strings and making things happen.  However, I do believe that God played a role in the help we received from others.  And I do know that in all this God was with me and supporting me in whatever fate or life brings me. 

May you be blessed to know the support of God on your journey