THE GOODS BLOG: Erika's Precious Little Life - March Edition
Updated: Jun 18, 2021
WHAT. A. MONTH.
What a roller coaster of emotions.
It was simultaneously a really great month and also a really stressful and sad month.
I’ll get into all of it... There’s going to be a lot to unpack in this entry.
The Hedley tour started and everything was fun and awesome. (Little did I know what was to come.) I saw the first show of the tour in Abbotsford, which is about an hour from where I live in Vancouver.
Then I flew to Edmonton! Hooray! I was most excited to be reunited with my very bests. We hadn’t all been together in our foursome for much too long. Everything was good again. ♥
Tim and Archie also came to Edmonton and it was Archie’s first time being there. It was so adorable watching him become a bonus sibling to Rhett and Sawyer (Amy’s kids) for a few days. I think that he really enjoyed being a part of their little crew. (So now I’m like SHIT, I really do need to give him a sibling. UGH.) :P
The girls and I went to two more Hedley concerts in Red Deer and Calgary. We had SO MUCH FUN. We attended the meet & greet in Red Deer and the guys were so sweet and happy to see us. It’s like seeing old friends again and they seemed so genuinely grateful for us to be there. Jacob and I pretty much just attached to each other and stayed that way. I truly miss them like friends that I haven’t seen in a while.
During the Red Deer concert, Jacob climbed down the stage to where the four of us were standing and sang us a long portion of a song. And then in Calgary Jake gave us a shoutout from the stage (video on Instagram). It was all so great and memorable. We’ve been doing this for 14 years of our lives and it’s still just as exciting and special as it was back then.
The next morning... The shit began to hit the fan. The allegations started to come out on Twitter. Our initial reaction was that it was stupid and we barely gave it a thought. To us, this was not “news.” Obviously the guys have been extremely promiscuous all of these years. This was no shock and also no surprise that some of these girls were feeling disgruntled about it. I do not support this kind of behaviour, but for me, my personal experience was miles away from these types of problems. I’d already been turning a blind eye to it for years, whether that’s reprehensible of me or not.
As the days went on the stories gained traction and the media latched on to it. Things went from bad to worse.
I wrote this blog post about my own personal experience with the band over the years. This is meant to be my own story and not so much an opinion about what’s currently going on.
The rest of our time in Edmonton was really great! It was just nice to be in a place that is so comfortable. I also got to see Susan and Jaelyn while I was there, which is always so nice!!
I was also so very happy that more of you guys got to meet Archie for the first time. ♥
We’re at 18/22 of you who have met him! Just 4 of you to go!!!
(Don’t mind the saddest baby ever in the photo with Jaelyn, HA HA. He’s upset about being rudely awoken from his nap.)
We returned home to Vancouver and it was Valentine’s Day. Tim made a nice (steak & lobster) dinner and there were beach tricks.
Now for an entirely OTHER thing that’s been happening...
As you probably know, Vancouver is known for it’s very large film industry (the city is often referred to as “Hollywood North.”) So we figured; Archie is super cute, films need babies... Let’s make this happen. Back when Tim had been traveling to Vancouver on a monthly basis to film motion capture, they would hire and work with various local actors. So Tim decided to contact one of them to ask for advice on getting Archie into the industry. She was super helpful and recommended some agents for us to get into contact with. So we sent the agents some photos of Archie, including one of me and him (my current FB profile photo). Bridget from The Characters Talent Agency got in touch with us right away and said that not only does she want to represent Archie, but she wants to represent me as well. She saw my photo and thinks that I could do well! This was not at all my intention or plan. I spoke to her on the phone one night for like an hour and she really seems to think that I could get work doing commercials. So I figure... Why not? My availability to attend casting calls (for both Archie or myself) is obviously wide open. I’m really just going to “see what happens” and have some fun with it.
I had to go have headshots done, which I shot with Bridget’s photographer. They wanted me to look very normal and natural, very “girl next door.” (They did my hair and makeup.)
We did 4-5 different outfits and looks. This one was my favourite. It feels the most like “me.”
So we’ll see what happens. I feel like this type of work has been very reoccurring in my life and that it would be a lot of fun to give it a go again! I really don’t have any expectations about it.
Then it was the TEN YEAR anniversary of the day that Tim and I met (in person)! We took a photo while in Edmonton in the exact spot where we met, which was at a Starbucks in Chapters. ♥
Kristen and I went for dinner!
A lot of snow fell one day and it felt like a real winter... And then it was all gone two days later. I will accept short blasts of winter, just to remember what it’s like.
We decided to take a drive down to the USA one day (Washington), since we hadn’t tried it yet. The US boarder is only about an hour drive from our house and the nearest city that has stuff is Bellingham. So we checked that out and it was fun. Archie’s first time leaving the country!
We also visited the Capilano Suspension Bridge, which is something nearby that we’d been wanting to see.
And so back to Hedley... The days went by and the allegations kept coming out and they kept getting worse and worse. It has been awful living each day on edge, wondering what terrible thing was going to happen next. I feel like I’ve been living and breathing this whole shitpile of a situation every day. And then finally yesterday, Hedley announced that they were going to be stepping away from their careers after the tour finishes. I have many conflicting emotions about it all and hopefully you can appreciate my complicated feelings.
I mostly just feel sad.
The guys did things that were wrong (I’m not naive), there is no question about that (although I have a difficult time believing that rape was one of them) and it’s about time that their actions caught up with them. They don’t deserve to treat women poorly because they’re “famous.” So I’m actually glad that they’ve finally gotten this harsh wake up call and I hope that they can become better people after all of this. But it makes me sad because I know that they have other, better sides to them. The people who I know are good.
I feel sad for the women who had bad things happen to them. I’m proud of them for speaking out. It couldn’t have been easy and the feminist in me applauds them. NO MAN should get away with treating a woman poorly, like she is disposable. I only wish that any of them would have pressed charges, as opposed to going to Twitter or the media about it. That doesn’t seem to me like the appropriate way to handle something like this.
I feel sad for my fellow Hedley friends who are trying so hard to find any reason that could make all of this be untrue and for it to all just go away. Of course we don’t want it to be true. Of course we feel let down. We’re all feeling terrible and heartbroken right now.
It’s also frustrating to me that Hedley is going down for something that ALL BANDS DO. Which absolutely does not make it right. But still. Since when is Hedley the example? Bands in the 70s used to write entire songs about all of the teens that they would bang and flaunt it. How come that’s okay? The double standard is infuriating to me.
The whole thing is a giant steaming mess and I hate it and I hate having to judge my own feelings about it.
I’m sad for them to go away although I know that this is for the best. They deserve to sleep in the bed that they have made for themselves. But my own heart will miss what they were to me.
I’m purposely not posting my feelings on this publicly because I don’t want to get attacked from either side. I feel like I can be honest in here because it’s my safe space. ♥
Blah. So moving on... I hope that March is a much less challenging month.
It should be fairly low key... Until I fly back to Edmonton because we still have tickets to the Edmonton Hedley show. This very well may be the last time that I ever get to see them, so I’m sorry but I’m going to put everything aside, be selfish, and treat this as a very sad goodbye. It’s going to be awful.
After that, my brother is coming to Vancouver to visit. He has never really been to Vancouver before, so I’m looking forward to showing him around!
Life with Archie:
Oh yeah, I still have a baby. :P Basically, he’s just cute all day.
He still isn’t walking, but I feel like he’s super close. Once he realizes that he can let go of things he’ll be in business!
He recently got his seventh tooth and now has four on top and three on the bottom.
He loves copying everything that we do and is learning so much. You can really tell that he understands us now. He has such an adorable personality! I’m finding him so interesting and enjoyable lately. I look at him and think... Please don’t grow up to become a douchebag in a band, stay sweet and innocent forever. :P
THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!:
March 7th is Susan Murphy’s 36th birthday!
I hope that you take your special day to relax! I have no idea how you manage to do as much as you do, especially while being pregnant! You deserve to be so appreciated. Love you so much, my sweet friend.
March 12th is Kristen Smith’s 34th birthday!
Big news! We live in the same(ish) city again!!! I so love getting to spend time with you on a more regular basis and getting to be more involved in each others lives. Are you doing anything for your birthday?? Let’s celebrate! Also, let’s eat smoked olives again soon. Love you so much!
March 19th is Sarah Swalm’s 7th wedding anniversary!
Wishing you and Adam a special day! I still think about the fun that we had at your Las Vegas wedding all the time!
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