This week's prompt:
Everyone has a time in their life they view as a crossroad. Sometimes you can see it as it's happening, and you're able to choose one way or another. Other times you may not realize you're there until you look back, and see what a turning point it really was. This week, write about a time you view as a marker in your life; a distinct place where things changed, for better or worse.
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My happy little house in Victoria. It definitely came with some quirks, but I miss that place most days.
Life in Victoria was everything and nothing like I imagined it would be. I’d dreamed about living there since I was very young, so the fact that I ACTUALLY LIVED THERE was satisfaction enough. Maybe it was because it was my first little taste of real freedom—living away from family, friends, being out of my parent’s house…. Responsible for me and only me. We lived somewhat far away from school but close enough to downtown. It didn’t really matter where you lived anyway, because in an hour you could walk across the city, which is something I did regularly. I frequented the Farmer’s Markets on the weekends and took long runs down Dallas Road. It was a simple life, no doubt, but sometimes simple is better.
I dealt with great deal of personal issues while away at school, so it wasn’t always peachy. It was a constant battle, but for the most part the good overshadowed the bad. I think the sheer fact that I was away from Calgary and everything that I had deemed ‘bad’ made the not-so-great days in Victoria seem bearable.
Somehow I ended up back in Calgary. I can’t even tell you what the real reason was at this point. There were just so many damn factors that went into it from those personal issues to my lofty, short-lived dream of switching to a dietetics major that required me to move home. All I know is that January to April of that year had my stomach in knots trying to decide if I should stay or go.
It wasn’t easy moving back home. I spent the better part of the first year wishing I were elsewhere. Cursing this city for everything that it was and signified for me. Eventually though, I accepted that this was and continues to be my choice. I grew up so much that year in Victoria and would absolutely not be where I am today or be the person that I am today had I not spent the time there. My interests, my tastes, my entire persona is so wrapped up in that little island. If all variables were right, I would move back to Vancouver Island in a heartbeat, but at least for now I know that Calgary is where I ought to be.
- s
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Asleep by the sea
Croatia. A beautiful country full of beautiful places. For me, it will remain in my heart as a place where life changed. It was a time of saying goodbye. Goodbye to the past, goodbye to a friendship, goodbye to a future.
The air was damp. So humid that I could barely breathe. Add in a feeling of worn out that had exacerbated a head cold in 40 degrees Celsius. We’d been going, going, going, non-stop for almost 3 weeks at this point. Stuck together in foreign places, each day becoming increasingly more hostile than the last. Until we reached a moment where everything blew up.
It’s hard to enjoy a beautiful place that you’ve tainted with arguing, tears, and realizations. Having talked in circles about the difference between loving one another and being in love. Dubrovnik became a place of letting go and moving forward.
Sitting along the Adriatic Sea, talking about where life was going to go from there. Eyes puffy from crying, my heart feeling relieved. Exhausted beyond belief, the reality being that life had to move on. A new beginning, stemming from saying goodbye.
- g
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