A Canadian Winter

It’s been a long, LONG time since I’ve been in a real Saskatchewan-style Canadian winter.

And
I don’t even think I can call this one a ‘real’ one, as it’s been one
of the mildest I’ve seen in my life. The photo above is from my first
day here in January and it was nearly -30C… but now we don’t even have snow (the photo below is from yesterday). However, rocking
up from the Caribbean tends to make anything under 25C feel a little
chilly.

Everyone
here keeps asking me what the hell I’m doing here in the winter. It’s
not the time I usually choose to visit (even when I lived in Vancouver I
normally tried to schedule my family visits in the summertime – there’s
a reason I left Saskatchewan and it is WINTER). This visit was not a
regular one. Unfortunately, my grandpa was terminally ill and I came
home to spend time with him before he passed away. I only got five days
with him before he passed, but I am so, so glad that I got them and that
he knew I came. I’m happy that I was living the kind of lifestyle that I
was able to drop everything and leave for an undetermined amount of
time – I know not everyone has that option.

This
trip has been different than the others, and not just because of the
reason I came. This is the first time I’ve come back from Roatan and not
been itching to get back to the island after a week or two. In fact, I
extended my time here in Canada by nearly a month. I didn’t want
to go back. I spent a glorious week in Vancouver, eating all the things,
and another lovely lazy week in Saskatoon visiting old university
friends. The rest of the time I’ve been in small town Saskatchewan with
my family and friends, enjoying luxuries such as drinking water out of the
tap, walking around safely at night and non-rotten vegetables at the
grocery store. I’m headed back to Roatan in a couple weeks which will be
interesting. I miss my friends a lot, and the diving. I can’t wait to
get back in the water. But I don’t feel the pull that I usually do to
get back there.

Lots
of big changes are happening for me this year so stay tuned. In the
meantime, if you need me I’ll be over here eating sushi all day until I
leave.