That which is Changing... and Challenging

This is not the way I expected to announce the news. My ideal method was to contact my friends and tell each one of them personally. Due to a lack of time and an overwhelming amount of emotions (I'm finding that for someone who is generally a wordsmith that it's hard for me to talk about it) seem to be working against me. 

We had been waiting on the final paperwork, information, details and timing before making the announcement to our friends & family here. As I don't have the fine print, I have been hesitant to share. Despite this, we have been slowly passing out the information though I have felt completely at a loss in the process; it has not gone at all as well as I had hoped so I do feel the need to apologise. 

All this to say...

Arden is being transferred to Calgary.

Although I know this was a necessary move for his career (which will now become a Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 position), a beneficial transition for our family (rooted in the additional time that he will have at home), and positive with regards to access to medical professionals, I am incredibly sad about leaving. Shell has indicated that it is critical for this position to be filled as soon as May; however, we're hoping for June at the earliest.

The fact that our family will be leaving McMurray in the near future is something hard for me to accept for a many different reasons.    

Change is such hard work. ~ Billy Crystal 


Certainly, there is joy.  There is a sense of relief in that Arden begins a new position with regular office hours; he will no longer have to work extensive sets of day/night shift work. I look forward to all that extra time that Arden will have with me & the boys – last year he had wanted to be on the field coaching Nate's baseball team... now this becomes a possibility. I look forward to having dinner around the table together and a consistency in our routine. Even though I have not been there since moving to Alberta, there is a lot to enjoy in Calgary; a friend sent me a “top ten” list this week which made me laugh and look forward to enjoying aspects of living in Calgary.

Although I am resistant to change – and to big city living as I am a small-town girl – the core reason I am feeling such loss is related to the fact I am leaving such amazing friends – my Fort McMurray family. These are the individuals who have been here for me and my boys – fierce, dedicated, involved, and loving. I can't imagine leaving before being able to pay this care forward. I have been so indescribably blessed and I can't imagine my world without these phenomenal people in the next stage of this journey. It would be impossible to give a chronicle of the amazing kindnesses we have received.

The last two years have been jam packed with intense times and this season is no different.  The idea of leaving my McMurray before I start working the soil in the Community Garden, before I walk down Birchwood trails in the mid-summer's heat, and maybe even before my children are finished their school year is an intimidating and overwhelming prospect.

All the same, I know that this is where God is sending us. I can't lean on my own understanding... so I trust. Faith sustains me and I acknowledge that there is so much to be learned from change.  Even still, I have to recognize that I am conflicted and feeling much loss. Reading Ecclesiastes has been, surprisingly, encouraging at such a time as this.

There is a time for everything.

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. ~ Alan Watts.