Part Six of Into The Looking Glass… (Click here for Part One), which is a look back at where I’ve come from as both a person and a writer. I’ve been through many trials in my days, however I will leave full disclosure for perhaps a professional autobiography if I manage to make it as a writer and worm my way into media somehow. For now, enjoy my path, picking up as I make the decision to leave my homeland behind and undertake my longest journey yet, to the land down under!
After leaving my friends behind at the HMV in West Edmonton Mall for my shot at management with my own HMV, I found myself enjoying the challenge of business again. As I arrived I found a decent staff awaiting me, just lacking focus, motivation and passion. It wasn’t their fault as they didn’t really get along with the previous manager. Lucky for me, we may not have seen eye to eye on a lot of things, but we all got along well enough to get the store trending upwards and actually watching what we spend our money on. Even now I miss some of the hilarious times we had and the great challenges we managed to overcome as a team. I also miss my boss, who was very respectful, knowledgeable and an all around great guy. If things may have happened differently, I might still be there… enter… the love interest!
As time passed one of my friends from working at the old store grew closer. We began to spend more time together and really found ourselves enjoying each other’s company. As I watched her head off on a trip across Canada, I began to wonder if I should pursue her. Her being Australian would put a damper on the career path I had begun building in Edmonton, but since when does anything go as planned as I learned from my previous relationship. I was heading home that summer anyway so we discussed it and I figured I would meet her in Nova Scotia and show her around my home town. After all, I would get to play tourist all over again and see all those sights I hadn’t seen in years!
The time flew by, as I travelled around with her in Halifax for a few days I decided that I did want to pursue this. She was great and I didn’t want to be that guy who lets the girl get away and spends the rest of his life wondering, “Oh… what if?” I asked her out and she agreed, but it would mean she’d need to stay in Canada for an extra six months on her visa. I told her if she made that commitment for me, I would come to Australia so long as she still wanted me to after her visa was up. She agreed and we both decided to fly back to Edmonton. Lucky for me my Dad was able to sell her van with no back seats, and my parents got to meet her at the same time.
Only a few short months after that, my Dad tragically passed away. The iron man was no more, and I was especially glad that he had the chance to meet my girlfriend. I decided I had to go home, but it was going to cost me quite a bit. Lucky for me my girlfriend and her parents helped pay for my trip back and I will always be grateful for that. At times like those, it’s so hard to focus when something has happened so close to you. As the trip back was planned, my boss at HMV told me to go home from work, although I couldn’t leave my store knowing that no one would be covering. I worked the next two days and then had a day to pack. As we travelled back to Halifax, it was an awkward moment for everyone as it would be her first time meeting my entire family.
This is where I found out my family mostly has facebook and stalk me regularly. Everyone mentioned to my girlfriend they recognized her from facebook. Social Networking 1, Funeral Service 0. However it was a wonderful service and I will definitely miss my Dad. But my family is always super awkward at these kind of events. We are a group of people who love to laugh and we do our best to make jokes, no matter how much worse it makes things. For example, when my Mom told me we were having my Dad cremated, I had no idea what to say to make things better, so I naturally asked “Should I bring the marshmallows?” These jokes cropped up all week long as we struggled to maintain some semblance of sanity in the chaos things had been thrown into. In a moment of my uncle and I forcing my Dad’s ashes into a much smaller box then the bag of ashes we looked at each other and laughed. I couldn’t help myself, “Difficult in life and in death, at least he was consistent.”
After that passed, Christmas was a blur and suddenly I found myself selling all my worldly possessions and moving to the great land down under, Australia. Despite not drinking tea or alcohol, having an overwhelming fear of spiders and not understanding the national language of Australia (English, Well… Kind of); I feel like I’m beginning to fit in. But I’ll definitely tell you all about Australia in my next and most likely final piece of Into The Looking Glass. If you have any questions or comments leave them below and hope you enjoyed the stay!