Jun
2021

We got the all-clear to trailer!

I am so excited we can go to the trailer for more than 24 hours!

He said

The best news came this week officially on Tuesday that as of midnight on Wednesday the Stay At Home Order was lifted. This meant, as we were advised last weekend at the trailer, that we could now return to regular visits to our trailer for any length of time, of course with all the other restrictions in place: no public spaces open, we have to social distance on our own site, and no visitors or transient campers. There wasn’t better news last than that. Well, I guess there was also the news that Emelia was able to get her first dose of the vaccine on Tuesday as well!!

So you can be certain the second I was done work on Saturday I made a beeline up to the trailer. Well, I went home to grab the myriad of pallet wood that I had painstakingly (lean heavy on “pain”) worked at getting separated for our bespoke outdoor kitchen project at the trailer. After a sweaty thirty minutes of race packing, I was on the road and heading the trailer to meet Danielle and Emelia who had made their way up there earlier in the day. And while there was work to be done on continuing the work on the outdoor kitchen, it felt so freeing to be visiting the trailer and not needing the project or work to do to be going. Even if there was work to be done!

One delightful thing that has happened as of late is that when I got my new bike, I passed along my Swift bike to her and she’s taken a bit of an interest in biking and this couldn’t please me any more. When I was packing up the truck I ask Emelia if she wanted her bike to come and she said she did and that she wanted to go on the ride we were going to do today on the G2G Rail Trail. The last time we were up there, she and I went and the ride was a delight for me because over and above the fact that she’s doing something I love doing with me, we had such great conversation the entire ride! I adored the time with just her.

So this morning amid unseasonably (and very welcome) hot summer weather, we got ready and headed out on the trail Emelia, Steph, Justin and I. Danielle opted out as she’s been having an issue with her hip and oddly enough her elbow from helping me reduce pallets into usable project wood. Emelia – and Danielle for that matter – often worry about that my riding with them is too slow for me and frustrating for me. I have to routinely explain to them that while yes I do ride much faster when I am on my own, that when I am riding with friends it’s more about riding with them – whatever pace that may be – and enjoying the tome together.

And, just like last time, and just like Danielle says on her walks with Emelia, it is the time where she gets to unpack thoughts with me, talk about things and just generally connect. These moments aren’t lost on me and I take every opportunity I can to tell her how much I love it. And today was no exception. On the ride back especially when Emelia pushed our pace (high five, girl!) we talked about peer pressure and the sort of things that Danielle and I are so proud of her for being such a thoughtful and cautious human. I really love this time together and what’s great is she told me today that she wants to plan for a really long ride together like I am planing to do this summer with our friends when we do the entire length of the G2G Trail. There was nothing more I would love to do. So, we’ll see if we can get Danielle interested in joining us too!

She said

This week was what felt like the first very small step to a normalish life. The first big step was on Tuesday when we were able to get her first dose of the covid vaccine. Emelia has been asking for months if she could have a dose once it was available. Emelia knew that being protected wasn’t just for her but for everyone. It was such a relief to get her protected along with most of our family and friends. It feels the first massive step to a normal life again.

The one news we got this week that wasn’t what Emelia had hoped for was school. It was announced that school would not be returning to in class learning at all this year. Emelia understood why but it didn’t stop her frustration with online learning and wanting desperately to be back in class. She is counting down the days even more so until the school year is done. It certainly hasn’t been the last two years of grade school we had at all thought she would have. Kids have lost so much over the last 16 months, it is heartbreaking.

The next big announcement was the stay at home order finally being lifted after weeks of restrictions. The COVID numbers are finally coming down and things are feeling like we are seeing a light at the end of a long tunnel. What this means first for us as a family is that we can finally use our trailer again. Not for a 24 hours restricted period but as long as we wanted and as much as we can. This weekend both John and I had to work Saturday so we couldn’t head up until later in the day, but we made the most of our time there.

Emelia and I were up earlier so we got things set up and managed to get a river run in. It felt incredible to be back in our happy place as a family with our friends. The girls were thrilled to have the freedom the trailer gives and the adults just loved being back together.

This weekend was still a bit of a working weekend, we still have work to get done on the outdoor kitchen but John got so much done. It is really coming together, we are hoping that by this time next week it will be 90% there and we can just sit back and enjoy. What John was able to build with free palette wood has been incredible, it was a big challenge and it is really coming together.

The last big province opening up news that impacts Emelia this week is that her amazing cheer gym has been working hard behind the scenes to plan their reopening to modified training. With restrictions over the next few months they have invested in tents and new training mats so they can move their groups outside to get the kids back to training. Emelia is so excited that she can get back to what she loves in the next few weeks. It won’t be full training but it is certainly heading in the right direction.

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