kim herdman shapiro
the author and creator behind Gelato with the Pope, what the hell is a toque?,
and her new series - the Wynter Island mysteries

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Summer 2020

 

 

What is that old saying?  Gods laugh when men make plans? That's how it has felt over the past few years as I've attempted to show my sons what Canada is all about, one province at a time.  I originally planned - yes, can you hear the Gods laughing? - to finish the entire trip within two to three years. But two years stretched into three and now five, with our most recent end date possibly the Fall/Winter of 2022/23. 

 

What happened? Life happened.  Two house moves, packing and unpacking, new schools, and then high school.  You add in medical emergencies while on two separate trips to Canada, and plans begin to quickly dissolve.

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None of this is helped by the present state of uncertainty in the world. Our plans to travel this summer to the West Coast have been cancelled. We do not know when the US/Canadian border will reopen, and when it does, if it will be truly safe to begin travelling again.

 

What do we do then in this strange, new post-pandemic world? I don't know.  I'm guessing not many of us do. I still hold on strongly to the idea that travel is important.  My sons have gotten to experience things that they never would have been able to find in their own backyard; from beluga whales in the wild to francophone-only communities and even polar bears swimming over top of them.  All of these experiences taught them something, in one way or another.

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So to sum up, I don't know where this journey will go next.  Out of ten provinces, we have visited nine of them.  We only have B.C. and the Canadian Arctic still to finish.  Fingers crossed that one day we will.

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Cheers,

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Kim

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