“Your mission: Be so busy loving your life that you have no time for hate, regret or fear.” – Karen Salmansohm
Hi everyone! Long time since I have been on here. I have been in a never-ending funk and I tend to get silent when I feel that way. I don’t want to spread negativity and I have lately felt a lot of that. When I found the quote I wrote at the start of this entry, it really made me think. I usually love my life and when I look at the words hate, regret and fear, I realized that is the predominant way that I have been feeling over the last few months.
I think many people including if not especially, us living with a chronic illness, had such a terrible 2020 with the pandemic. I for one had a lot of hope heading into 2021 for us to be able to put this behind us with the creation of vaccines. It is for that reason that 2021 is becoming such a disappoint. The pandemic rages on, we as people are still so divided, and we may likely be back to restrictions and limitations for the colder months. It is for this reason that I have decided to change my outlook to something I have control over. Hence, my title. I am moving onward and upward.
My husband and I will have our 10 year anniversary this fall. We had wanted to go to Europe to celebrate but that cannot happen. So we have decided to go on a cross-country tour for a month to explore this great country we live in. We live in the Western portion of Canada and we are driving all the way to the East coast. So I guess we are actually going onward and eastward. We are going to go on a journey. Although it will be different than other years, I think we will still be able to celebrate in other ways.
I was worried about whether I was being reckless setting out on this trip. I phoned my family doctor who I absolutely love and trust, to ask her opinion. She gave me her full nod of approval and said the farther east you go in Canada, it is way safer in terms of covid. She said of course to do al the things I am doing here to stay safe; masking, sanitizing, social distancing etc…but felt very confident telling me she felt safe giving me the green light. As someone living with MS, I am on a drug that means even though I have had both vaccines, I still have little to no antibodies to covid because of the disease-modifying drug that I am on. Because of that, I had to ask awkward questions of people offering for me to stay with them on our trip across the country. So strange when people are offering for us to stay with them for an night to have to ask “Is everyone in you house vaccinated?” Almost everyone luckily was. So now I can not only explore and celebrate with my husband. we can also see some people we haven’t seen in a very long time. We are very fortunate to have friends and family across the country whom we can stay with.
When that is not possible, we have booked air B&Bs. We have packed our little cleaning kit and asked questions of the hosts where we are staying. Everyone has to do what they feel comfortable with and assess their own level of risk they are willing to take.
I am so excited and looking forward to this trip. That anticipation alone is more than worth the trip. Just having something to look forward to is something that has been missing in my life and I’m sure many others.
We are taking our dog Dax with us. We will see how he does on a 10 000km trip. The good thing with bringing him is he will force us to get out of the car more often than we might have without him. His suitcase is ready to go.
I just thought I would update you all on my life a bit. I will post pics on my Facebook page so you can see some sights as I travel across this great country I live in. Feel free to send me suggestions on great places you have been in Canada that we should check out. Even if they are fantastic dog parks that Dax should visit!
I am looking to fill my life with positivity again. Look for that to come in my future blogs.
Keep looking onward to sunny skies.
Christine, Kip and Dax (and my Alinker)
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