Major Life Updates
I really don't have time for this...
This life update should’ve been written a long time ago. Or at least started. The problem is, I never knew where to begin it.
House drama?
Medical mishaps?
Teacher theatre?
Mountain trips gained and lost?
A failed plan to move to Saskatoon?
Covid?
The fall of Adam?
I’ll just pick a spot and proceed from there.
May 29, 2023. This is the day I walk into my principal’s office and tell her I am taking an extremely late, shockingly low-paying parental leave. I decide to take July-December off. The plan is to write a few books and see what happens. Which translated means: I can’t stand another minute of teaching and need a long break before I snap and quit.
July 23 - August 3, 2023. A glorious trip to the mountains. We love Yoho National Park especially. Yet, something is really on my mind this entire trip. I can’t quite place it. I keep singing a certain song on repeat. Becca can’t take much more of my singing. She says as much. And I reply by singing the chorus once more. “I’m going back to Bowenville…”
August 22, 2023. Shock. Complete shock. We say farewell to some visiting family. It is, to be blunt, not a good visit. Shockingly so. And deep down I know we’re living life the wrong way. We are the problem. Our kids are trapped in town. Not enough to do. Not enough fresh air and real living. All of which makes us angry and short-tempered. And having company brings this out viciously. Change is a must.
September 10 – 17, 2023. We do something unexpected. Something that has me losing sleep. I’m afraid and I don’t know why I’m afraid. What am I doing? What will others think? What do I think of myself? Ahh! What is it? We scoot away to the mountains for a week. Again. The mountains are quiet. We hike. We explore. We think. We breathe deeply. We live. It turns out to be the best week of our lives.
There’s a scene at the end of one of our trip videos that might not look like much to the casual observer. It is momentous to us. (18:32 HERE). We’re running down a mountain. We hiked up high, and we had to run back down to our vehicle and hit the road for home. All of us were together. It was a feeling of accomplishing something hard and coming out stronger. A feeling like we’d made it, whatever that was to be. A feeling that we were ready for the next stage.
November, 2023. I release two books. Nice. Joseph (12) and I each shoot our first deer. Right near my parent’s acreage. The location of the hunt is not to be passed over in this story.
January 7 – 17, 2024. A few things. First, I return to work. I’m promised a class with severe issues. Kids hiding in lockers, crying under tables, and yelling and swearing. I waltz in and soon realize this is the most fun class I’ve ever taught. We connect instantly. Second, I meet Dr. Peter Kwasniewski in Saskatoon. I got to know him well online through writing for Onepeterfive. He proves to be a real, genuine, and inspiring man. But the visit also confirms to me my shrinking place in the traditional Catholic world. By that I mean I simply don’t write for Onepeterfive anymore. I don’t want to sound repetitive and say the same thing over and over. I have stepped back. And in meeting Dr. K. I realize that it’s okay for me to take care of what I know needs taking care of. If that makes any sense. Third, my teacher’s union begins six months of strikes and sanctions. It’s chaos.
March 19, 2024. St. Joseph’s feast day. After many prayers and novenas (to St. Joseph), I receive the results of something I needed to try out. It goes like this… I had applied for a teaching transfer to…Nipawin, Saskatchewan. That’s FURTHER from Saskatoon, by the way.
What for? Well, the plan is to…
Hmm. Is it a good plan?...
What if it falls apart?...
What if it does work out?
Then what?...
The plan is to take over my parent’s acreage near Nipawin. The place where I grew up. To keep it in the family. To breathe life into it. Or rather, to have it breathe life into us. To give my children the life they so desperately need. Farther away from the traditional Latin Mass, sadly, yet in a sense closer to God. A busy life. A fulfilling life. A real life. So, after many novenas and prayers, my school division rejects the transfer! Even though there is a job available. Shocked though I am, I mutter to Becca, “I didn’t even want that job, anyway.” That is true. “Well, then why on earth did you pray for it?” she replies.
Good point. For now, the plan is to return to a normal, boring, hopeless way of life. A trip to the mountains each year. And not much more. Sigh.
May 9, 2024. Context: I applied for a job I do want. Weeks earlier. An online teaching position with the new Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre. To be based anywhere I want. Nipawin… Or Saskatoon. But I never hear back from them. It is depressing. I’ll never get out of this life. Never.
I abandon myself as best I can to God’s will, grab a beer from the fridge after work, and start barbecuing in the sun while refreshing my throat.
“Dan!” says Becca, “someone from DLC is calling!”
I run to the phone. My head is spinning. I swear it is just one beer. But I’m spinning. We arrange an interview for the next week (May 13). It is difficult to say how it goes, but I know two of the men interviewing me.
Then, the wait.
Nothing happens. I get dejected. I am sad. There is a hint of relief, however. Change is hard. Yet, I know I, we, NEED this change. It is needed. Still, the thought of it is overwhelming. What is going on, anyway? What are we doing? What can we do?
May 16, 2024 – “Hi Dan,” says my school secretary, “your wife is on the phone and needs to talk to you.” I’m supposed to be teaching. It’s 9:00 am. My class is staring at me.
“Check your email!” shouts Becca. I attempt to teach the class while glancing through my email. It’s a message from my wife. DLC wants to offer me a job. They need a couple of documents from me first.
What? They. Want. ME?
May 28, 2024. Truck-Gate begins. Trying to get a truck for a reasonable price that isn’t a lemon is almost impossible. It’s still not resolved. Please say a prayer for this intention. I’ll spare you details, but it hasn’t been fun. The point is, however, I need a truck! Because we’re moving to my parent’s acreage! Sorry Saskatoon area. We could never afford you, anyway. Besides, I’m going back to Bowenville. My code all along for going back home to the Nipawin acreage.
My parents buy a house in the town of Nipawin. It all happens so fast. Too fast. Alarmingly fast. Yet it happens. It all falls into place. There can be no greater reassurance.
June 12, 2024. Our house goes up on the market. Tisdale is a tough market. Oh boy.
June 14, 2024. Our house sells. With inspection conditions.
June 17 - 26, 2024. Teacher sanctions end. Phew! The end-of-year school activities are overwhelming. All the added pressure of life makes it too much.
June 26, 2024. Last day of school. School secretary: “Hi Dan, your wife is on the line.” She never calls me at work! Twice in just over a month? “Ben (2) hurt himself,” she begins…
June 27, 2024. We are kicked out of our house for a five-hour house inspection, while trying to finish my job, while trying to chase medical appointments for Ben. Something is wrong, and no one knows what yet. I hope he’s fine for our Yoho mountain trip in a week.
June 28, 2024. I walk out of work a free man. No more working for this school division! I walk right into Becca saying, “Ben has a broken leg after all…” An entire afternoon at the ER and we emerge with a full leg cast on him. We must cancel our mountain trip. Oh well, we’re in real-life mode now anyway. Where there is always too much to do. Always something to overwhelm us. Always a feeling that things are moving forward. It’s a good, hard, peaceful place to be.
June 30, 2024. The house is sold. Out by August 7. My truck purchase is still giving me problems. Pray I can swap it back. Ugh!!! Also, the Learning House (a big homeschool company) wants to interview me and run a week-long promotion on my books. All the while I’m supposed to paint my parent’s new place this week. Then start renovating the acreage. And moving everyone. While a two-year-old has a broken leg. While cancelling our trip to the mountains. While…I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing right now! Probably not writing. Definitely not writing books. So, I will sign off. If you don’t hear from me for a few months, I hope you understand.
Stress. Frazzle. A sense of peace and excitement that I’ve yearned for.
Thanks be to God.
