Leaving Vancouver

A lot of people have asked me why I moved to Ireland. It may have seemed out of the blue to some folks, but I'd actually been talking about doing it for many years. There were a lot of reasons why I finally upped and went in 2005. One of the biggest was that my birth mother, Helen, had died in 2003, at the shockingly young age of 58. That really hit me, and made me think about the fact that I was heading towards 40 and didn't feel like I'd really accomplished anything significant in my life. I'd spent two and half years at night school to get a Technical Communications cert but couldn't get a job as a technical writer in Vancouver. Bad timing, I guess

Then, in 2004, Miss Lemon, my most treasured and loved 14-year old cat, was diagnosed with colon cancer, and after a couple of months of giving her palliative care at home, I made the difficult decision of having her "put to sleep". I used to hate that euphamism, but it really was like that. I'd begun thinking about the move to Ireland after my mom died, but this kind of clinched it for me. I was now free to go if I wanted.

I still had another cat, Agatha C, but I knew that she was very social and could be adopted. That ended up being a more difficult task as she was already about 10 years old and her thyroid decided to go postal around Christmas. So, I had to get that treated, but I was very lucky because a wonderful woman named Margaret adopted Agatha. (Latest reports are that Agatha is a happy little camper in her home in New Westminster.)

So, in autumn 2004, I talked to the folks at work about leaving, applied for my Irish passport (I have dual citizenship through my Irish grandpa), and in April 2005 waved goodbye to my life in Vancouver. I had many goodbye lunches and dinners and parties. Really made me appreciate just how many wonderful friends I have. My parents came out from Manitoba to help me pack. I don't think they realized just how much packing they would end up doing! I never could have got it done without their help. My cousin Victoria flew up from LA to meet me before I left the West Coast.

The photo shows me (30 pounds heavier) holding a delicious home-made cherry pie. Check out the airplane, shamrock, and maple leaf on the crust! Daphne, a co-worker at Mercer, is a consummate pie maker and prepared this delicacy for me. What a way to go!