Friendly Manitoba

There are many things that are fabulous about Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Yet in comparison to Ottawa, it is like a little brother growing up. Year by year, the city seems to age a little bit more and becomes slightly more developed.  With each new addition, building or team, another layer of Winnipeg's character is formed. The people who call this cold, mosquito infested, flat prairie land home are second to none. After almost two years in Ontario, I shamefully admit that I forgot how friendly the people are here. Even walking into 7-1, you will be greeted with a friendly smile and hello. Friends take you out to the most popular places, drivers let you in, people hold the doors and daily chit chat is offered without any reservations. We really are Friendly Manitoba.  

My family, The Sommerfield's, are the best family a motherless daughter could ever ask for. We all seem to inhabit the same land within a 25 block radius.  After the death of my mother, all my aunts took me under their wings as a second daugther (or in some cases a fourth daughter). My older male cousins act like big brothers and repeatedly offer their two seconds and a strong hand if ever needed; while my female cousins have all become my sisters.

During the past week here in Winnipeg I have been reflecting on my life in Ottawa. The words 'I miss Ottawa' have crossed my lips a few times recently.  Yet, in the same sentence, I also appreciate Winnipeg on a much deeper level than ever before. It has actually come to the point where it would be impossible to say 'I hate Winnipeg'. This is drastically different than the story I was telling leaving Winnipeg almost two years ago. It is funny how things change and it will be so interesting to see how this continues to develop over the next year. 

I am not completely sure if Winnipeg will be the place in which I hang my hat upon return to Canada. Or perhaps it will be the only place I wish to be. I have no expectations of what will happen or where I will end up.  People here constantly say "a place is only as good as the people you know in it" and I am beginning to understand how true this really is.  

This weekend two more going away parties were thrown with both welcome home and farewell signs hanging on the walls.  I think I will take the title for the most going away parties and I am not even out of Canada yet. It absolutely rocks catching up with old friends and seeing new family members take their first steps. There are so many people here that catching up with consists of a simple; hello, hug, and things carry on like we haven't skipped a beat. It is always fun telling people that you haven't seen in two years that you booked a one way ticket to Hong Kong but haven't booked a place to stay. Nobody has told me that I am crazy (yet) but a few people have said they would never do something like this. That I understand. What I am doing in not for everyone and I have really planned very little...

It feels like my entire life has been planned out, organized and colour coded in agendas. So for the first time I just wanna trust the Universe and keep holding the belief in my heart that everything is going to work out.

Jets vs. Sens in Ottawa

This weekend I had my very first "OH SHIT!" moment and I believe the reality hit me that very soon I will be walking off a plane, alone, on the other side of the earth. The word scared doesn't describe how I feel because being scared is accompanied by fear and I am not fearful. The unknown doesn't intimate me but being able to embrace my aloneness is slightly more challenging. I strongly dislike the word alone, being alone or stating that we are lonely. I believe that there is no such thing as being alone or even the feeling of loneliness. We are never truly alone as we share this earth with billions of others and even though someone who knows me intimately may not be in my physical presence they are still with me, right? In a random dinner with some friends after yoga someone at the table said "Yeah - I backpacked through South East Asia with me, myself and I, all three of us!". This comment really hit home and I have stolen it to use frequently.

Slurpee! WPG classic.

Being here in Winnipeg, being home, provides you with a sense of security that nothing else in the world can provide. When we are home we are (usually) surrounded by the people who know us the most intimately therefore we are more free to stand on our own two feet and look life in the face. So it is because of the deep security Winnipeg gives me that perhaps I am more willing to let go of everything I have been juggling. There is a lot of cleansing going on in my life; material possessions, phones, obligations, friends, and lovers. Every once in a while every aspect of our lives needs a spring cleaning. The more things we let go of the more naked we feel. The more naked we feel the more we have to be brave that the world will accept us for who we truly are. There is nothing left to hide behind. So I gave myself an extra week in Winterpeg to ride out these waves of emotions because once I fly out me, myself and I need to be completely ready for this incredible adventure head.
Thank you Winnipeg for letting me be me.