100,000 km . I've always wanted to but never been.

It was kinda ironic. You know. When I drove into the city for the first time with myself behind the wheel. With the odometer rolling over to 100,000 km. With all the anxiety building up. Not sure whether or not to trust my GPS. Trying to keep up with my parents in front of me, not letting any vehicles between us. Pretending that I knew that I was going to be okay. Listening to my sister’s repetitive, stern instructions to keep up, don’t slow down, and to stop panicking. Obviously what I thought was secret feelings of nervousness and overwhelming thoughts were not as invisible as I thought they were. But that was 25 days ago, and things have just been in fast forward since.

My cousin has been so generous as to give me a job for the month of August. I had worked for July but my work contract had ended on Aug 1 and I was in need of some desperate cash and I knew I couldn’t have afforded to not have worked this month. Anyway, I’ve been working for Tara and it’s been really quite the experience. Not just the work itself but living in the city in general. I have been fortunate enough to have a wonderful family here that is helping me build a foundation to know how to survive in the city. And yes, oh my gosh, did (and do!) I have lots of lessons to learn.

The job I currently have definitely has pushed my personality into a direction I didn’t think I ever would be able to do. I will be the first to admit that I don’t really have the best initiation or social skills so this job has been great practice for me to try to increase my abilities in those ways. Another challenging thing for me was having a great deal of patience and being able to truly multi-task and I think that it has notably increased in multitude in the past few weeks no doubt. I am grateful for these experiences.

On a different note, something that has been extremely challenging for me as of lately is swallowing the fact that I am on my own. For the first two weeks, I had my dog with me up here in the city since my mom was in the States for some medical treatments and my dad works 15 hour days. I just “returned” my best friend this past weekend - so late sleeping has been the trend of lately. This week has been hard because I wake up alone and I go to bed alone. & to think that this is going to be the norm for the next 4 years, is so hard to get over. Sure it’s just a dog in the end; but it’s something that allows me to be in comfort, and gives me a reason to wake up in the morning. It’s hard to explain I guess.

I could be writing blog posts for days to explain the fun adventures that I have encountered and been fortunate enough to be part of here in the city. I took my sister and her boyfriend to the Exhibition here as a return on helping me move in. I’ve also went outside the city to the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night about 2 weeks ago to watch a mini meteor shower with Tara. I’ve also been able to join my uncle and Tara in looking at showrooms which was entertaining to say the least. Also, I am thankful that I had been asked to join Tara and her friend to practice their photography one night that overlooked downtown of the city on the fifteenth floor. One weekend, I even had the privilege to join Tara and Uncle Larry at the lake for some rest and relaxation that included swimming off a pontoon boat in the middle of lake. Fun! Now this weekend, I have had the SUPER privilege of 2 Labour Day classic tickets. My family spoils me so much!! I am pretty pumped to go. I have always wanted to go but I’ve never been. I think my dad might try to join me.
Another fun adventure that I’m apart of, is working the Cool Cart at a car show here in the city this weekend. Tara is entering her 1966 Ford Galaxy. It’s pretty sweet. I’m looking forward to that as well.

As for the future, I’m pretty sad to see August come and go so fast. University Orientation is on Tuesday and then classes begin the next day. I’m not sure if I’m ready for this.

101,600 km. That’s what my odometer reads now. I’ve gone somewhere… even if I never traveled all those kilometers myself.