My Country ‘Tis of Me?

Reflections of an American-Canadian Travelling in This United States of America

One week from today, we will have crossed over the border and will have spent our very first night of the Epic Adventure in Monroe, Michigan. As we finish our last minute trip preparations (just bought a screen bug house today!) and get together with our besties for final “See you in October” gatherings, Mick and I are very excited but both confess to it all feeling a bit surreal. I guess when you’ve been working since the age of 15, the prospect of having 2-and-a-half months off is mind-bending!

The past 6 weeks of semi-retirement have been fantastic. I’ve learned that although I miss my veterinary peeps loads, I am loving living a more stress-free life. The day after I finished work, I woke up feeling about 100 pounds lighter as the only problems I had were my own – I didn’t have to worry about 16 other people’s inevitable complications, sick patients, or clients coping with a dear pet’s illness or death. It was mighty liberating I can tell you.

The most frequently asked question about retirement we’ve gotten from people is “What are you going to DO???” The answer: “We are going to BE!” The modern world moves at a pace that turns most of us into “human doings” and now we can focus on spending time with the people we love, doing things that we love.

We’ve effortlessly filled our time hanging out with each other, taking Cassie for longer walks, throwing a great retirement party celebration with 35 of our best pals, a bit of travelling and hosting family visitors from the US and England. I also started my part-time gardening job and absolutely love it – I’ve never been afraid of getting dirty 🙂

With just 6 sleeps to go on Canadian soil, I’ve reflected a lot on how it will feel to be “home” in America after living in Canada for the last 22 years. The USA I left in 1997 was a very different place. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we’d have a President who was more interested in division than unity, who creates a climate where clawing back hard-won civil rights is celebrated, and who tweets juvenile personal attacks against anyone who challenges his narrow world view.

While that’s all scary enough in it’s own right, the far more terrifying thing is that there remains a large percentage of Americans who support him and normalize his outrageous behaviour. How have we grown so far away from the core values of what truly makes America great?

An optimist by nature, I still believe the majority of people are innately good. It will be interesting to put this to the test as we travel 6,600+ miles, through 22 States, over 75 days in this America.

Stay tuned for updates and you can “follow” the blog so that you don’t miss any instalments 🙂