Day One Hundred and Fifty One

Kelowna BC. is my new home. Nicole, Amilie, Jessica, Katelynn, Mariah and Yannick are my new group. Sun Pointe Village is my new job. Welcome to my new life.

I arrived on Monday night and went through a whirlwind of meetings. My new group and PL received me well enough and I am beginning to settle into my new environment. While the group is vastly different from my last, they are the same in that they are all just trying to get along and enjoy their time in the west and in the program.

I love my new job. I am working at Sun Pointe Village with Jessica. It is a very nice and well organized retirement home and assisted living program. There are five "communities" in the Village, and where you are placed depends on the level of care you require. For example, in Belgo, which is one of my favorite places to visit, the men and women their have a higher level of Dementia. One woman, Ann, came to me and placed her tiny, veined hand on my arm and said "Your father is a great pilot. He'll be fine. My husband knows him. He's getting too old to fly now, but he keeps at it. You'll be safe. How old is your daughter?" I must have reminded her of some one she once knew, since my father is most definitely not a pilot, and I certainly do not have a daughter. Then there is the Joe Rich community. This is the independent living area. These are the people that are capable of taking care of themselves. In this community lives a few people of interest. One is Harold. He was born in 1910. Yes, he is one hundred years old and lives independently. And I have to say, he looks very (well relatively) young for his age.

The last woman I want to tell you about is a woman I met just yesterday. Her name is Maria and she was born in Yugoslavia. She told me about her life and about the five years she spent in a concentration camp in Russia. She told me about how they gave them nothing but quilted pants and a shirt for the winter time because all year long they would work, often outside, for eight hours. She showed me the twisted wire barrettes they made to keep their hair our of their faces while they worked. Her stories were amazing and I listened with more attentiveness than I had ever given to a teacher in all my years of study.

I am learning a lot of things here, many I did not anticipate. I have learned what love is, and what it is to be independent. I am learning to ask for help when I need it (although I am still more stubborn than need be). I am learning to let go and move on, even if I don't feel that the issue has met justice. I am learning how to be an adult while I can still make all the mistakes of a teenager.

There is only three weeks left of the program, and I will be grateful to be able to return home "for real". But as we know, there is no going back, only going on. So hopefully this time, when I leave my katimalives behind me, I will be able to look back and say "Yup, I did the right thing all along."

There is a new adventure everyday, so no worries.