EMERGENCY RISK REDUCTION

Despite the stunning beauty of much of British Columbia, one mild shock of moving to Canada from South Carolina has been the shorter daylight during the winter. You can blame my move north of the 49^th parallel on a brunette Canadian lassie I met overseas…and blame what keeps me here on two sassy kids — 20ish but going on 40ish. Such is today’s generation.

When I visited Canada during a summer trip while in college (the only time before moving here 20 years ago), I couldn’t help but notice the alcohol consumption, complete with early mornings at the pubs, even drinking at 9AM. A different culture, for sure.  After 20 years of winters, with cold, rain, snow, and short daylight, one theory is that there’s little else to do – unless one is deliberate about it.  I find it sad that too many sit down, put on a Netflix movie, and seem to start drinking. Of course, there are millions who work, but honestly, there are millions here who don’t. If only we were all so lucky. But, if you follow my posts, I am pretty adamant that they are not “lucky” at all. Those of us who have a reason to wake up in the morning, with meaning and purpose in life, are the ‘lucky’ ones. This can be fulfilled through paid work, volunteering or just connecting with others in supportive relationships.

Less you think that most everyone hits the bottle here, nothing could be further from the truth. I have also seen amazing results from Canadian that stem from these long nights indoors – in the sewing room, craft nook, or garage. At Christmas craft fairs, I stand dumbfounded and ask, ‘Where does all of this lovely, creative stuff come from?’  The owner of our farm is an immediate example. Norrie is 80 years, and besides endless tasks in the barn, shed, or garage, he has built amazing model train displays complete with accessories that cover a large room. It is worth 10’s of $1,000s.    If this weren’t enough with which to occupy long winter evenings, he also has not one, not two, but three early classic automobiles. He loves 1932 Fords, and has a flatbed truck, a pickup, and a cabriolet (convertible). All are restored, running, and admired by others, but the ’32 Model A cabriolet “deuce” is a show-stopper. It is fully and originally restored.  There may only be a couple of others in western Canada in such good shape.

All of the above take time but is worth the effort.  With a bit of initiative, industriousness, patience, and humor, we make it through the winter. The longer sunny and warm Spring days beginning in March make the wait all the sweeter. You might ask how I pass the long evenings, being unmarried and an empty nester – with my kids living outside the house. My evenings fill up, but I presently spend considerable time readjusting my retirement portfolio. Because I don’t have a company pension and am not the heir to a small fortune, I basically have to save for retirement, or at least preserve the meager money I made during my fulltime working years. Don’t get me wrong – I am still working but the farm pays so little that it is basically considered volunteering. Maybe I only do it for health and sanity – which are reasons enough.

In my next blog, I will tell you more about my Canadian winter evenings.

Thanks for reading.