Who Knew?

Sometimes, my doctor says, a change is as good as a rest. And sometimes, the Universe has plans for me I could not, in my wildest dreams, ever have conjured up.

A month ago, I was contemplating Christmas and what I would serve for dinner. Two weeks into that month, Graham received word of a new position...in Williams Lake.

And today, after two weeks of tremendous excitement, anticipation and research into the Cariboo-Chilcotin area, I find I will be moving North into the interior of BC.

For an Island girl, used to the tempering breezes of Ocean all around, this will be a change in temperature, to begin. The mean temperature in Williams Lake is -10C for January...and during our recent cold snap, the temperatures there were closer to -17C. This will mean zone changes for me, as a gardener who has gardened on the much milder coast all my life.

Yet Williams Lake's flower is the Lilac...one of my favourite shrubs of all time. And I hear Rudbeckia and Echinacea does very well. There will be others I look forward to knowing, for their Northern hardiness.

There will be different varieties of wildlife from what I am accustomed to. There are Moose, Elk, Cariboo, Grizzly Bear, Wolves...and the Spirit Bear lives close to where I will be.

There are myriad Lakes and the Fraser River runs close by. Fishing is world renowned...and it is the home of the Williams Lake Stampede, huge ranches, lumber and mining. Williams Lake is the hub of the Northern Interior.

I think, perhaps, I may have a chance to manifest what I have always dreamed of having...a tiny guesthouse. A Bed and Breakfast, with produce grown in my own garden. With perhaps the stewardship of a Forest nearby, and Water not far away.

Along with the euphoria of a New Adventure...comes the sense of loss. This home and garden mean much to me...two weeks ago, I thought we were here for a long time. And Ocean will be three hours driving away, instead of just down the road.

In a two week time period, my life turned upside down, like the Tarot Card depicting the fallen building, called appropriately enough the Tower. This card, along with others depicting a great future, showed up often during my anticipatory Wait. There were many prosperous messages sent by the Animal Kingdom...the Eagles and Hawks...and the Snowy Owl.

If he wasn't a messenger from the North, I don't know who is.

In two weeks, mountains were moved to facilitate this complete change in my life. Obstacles were non-existent...events flowed as smoothly and surely as River moves to the Sea.

Even the move is all taken care of...all I have to do is find a place that will be a home. In the middle of winter, where the landscape is covered by an easy foot of Snow. The garden in the Cariboo will be a little like opening a box of chocolates, when Spring arrives.

The Wheel of Fortune also came up often, during my Wait. Mountains were moved and Rivers were crossed easily and safely because the whole thing was fated to be.

I feel a deep urge to move to this place I have never visited. Something calls me, strongly enough to leave my family...a thing I never imagined I would do. But by flight, they are only an hour away. And there is a great airport at Williams Lake.

For the last two months, I have undertaken to purge our home of items no longer serving their purpose, with an urgency I cannot convey. Even as I did this, I wondered at it...I asked Why?

The answer came with a suddenness that defies description.

Who knew, two weeks ago, that my life would be taken by a giant Hand, and shown a different path?