THE GOODS BLOG: Erika's Precious Little Life - November Edition
Updated: Jun 18, 2021
WHAT IS MY LIFE. WHAT THE ACTUAL EFF.
I’m pretty exhausted, to sum everything up.
The thought that I have to do yet another cross-country move on top of everything else that has been going on feels pretty overwhelming to say the least. I normally feel that I do well under these types of conditions. But I have to admit that it does feel like a lot.
October in Vancouver was nice. The autumn colours were gorgeous and the weather was great! Vancouver really does do the fall season like no other! We enjoyed various activities and it has been super nice to get to do things as a family on weekdays. Or any day! Every day is the weekend! There were GOATS! (Tim not working has been the best.)
In other good news, I got my settlement from our car accident. This is my settlement for my pain and suffering, which is separate from the money that we got for the car and separate from the money that Tim is going to get. I was awarded $5,000. So that’s pretty nice to get out of the blue! We’re expecting that Tim will be getting even more because he is still going to physiotherapy for his knee, which makes it a “chronic” injury (my “problems” were resolved within a month).
Then we were off to Toronto!
First we spent Thanksgiving in London with all of the Golems. It was delicious and Archie loved hanging out with all of his cousins.
Then we left Archie in London (hooray!) and went to Melanie and Ron’s wedding in Toronto! It was the best time!! We got to dress up like adults and have adult fun without worrying about our child! I will never bring Archie to a wedding even if he is invited. It’s so much better without him! I’m so happy that our first overnight away from him together went so well. We had a total blast at the wedding and I loved sharing it with my Toronto BFFs!
Susan came to Vancouver from Edmonton for a visit and spent a night at our place. It was great to spend some quality time with her!
Then it was Tim’s birthday and he turned 35. We had a great night out celebrating!
My cousin Marissa was in town visiting from Ottawa!
Then we left for England! This whole trip came up so suddenly and I was so excited that we got to take an actual vacation! The company that Tim was interviewing with (Playground Games) paid for our flights and our hotel while we were in Leamington. We paid for our hotel while in London. So for a relatively cheap trip to the UK, it was pretty great! I told you that I was going to manifest some travel for while Tim was off of work! Tim’s job interview there went really well and they offered him the job. But we found that while the town was adorable, it felt a little hollow. They also didn’t offer Tim as large of a salary as we wanted and they weren’t offering a very good relocation package to cover the costs associated with making such a large move. So these things made it pretty easy to narrow our decision down to Vancouver VS Toronto. I’m just glad that we got a trip to London out of it!! Tim had never been there before and I’d been once. Plus it was a great experiment to try doing some international travel with Archie. And he was so great and easy!! We had an amazing time being total tourists and checking out all of the major sights. I had really missed going on an adventure to a different country with Tim. We make a really good travel team. I’m the organizer and Tim is the one who figures out how to get us around!
While we were in London, Tim’s dad had his Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery done, which of course stressed us out. Thankfully the surgery was a big success and went off complication-free! Peter is now back home recovering and the next step is to calibrate the device that is going to alleviate his Parkinson's symptoms. This will be happening later in November.
Then it was Halloween so we hurried out to a pumpkin patch to get some pumpkins to carve...
And then we had Halloween! Archie went as a baby fawn and he was super cute, especially walking around in the costume! We had originally planned to do a super awesome family costume this year but with everything going on we couldn’t get it together. So Tim and I just decided that our onesies were good enough again. Archie really seemed to get the hang of trick or treating! After a few houses, he totally understood the concept of waiting at the door with the other kids and that someone was going to give him candy. He would even take the candy and put it in his little bag. It was SO CUTE.
So that has been the month. Somehow all of that has been happening while we have simultaneously been agonizing over which job Tim should take and which city we should live in. At one point we had put our foot down and decided that we were going to stay in Vancouver. Tim even accepted the job offer from EA in Vancouver. They had offered him the exact same salary as what he had been making at Capcom and the EA campus is amazing. So what if the job itself is a little lackluster!?
I wrote this: “I feel as if I’ve somehow given the impression that Vancouver isn’t “everything that it’s cracked up to be” or that we’re disappointed with how living here has turned out. That we’d be playing it “safe” by staying here. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. We have worked so hard to achieve the life that we’re currently living and being able to live in our dream location of Vancouver is still our dream. We love it here. We don’t want to leave. The mountains and the sea and the beautiful city is what we love. We are not finished here, we have only just begun. I don’t need to prove to myself (or anyone else) that I’m capable of uprooting my entire life to move across a country (or further) because I think that I’ve done it enough times already to know that I can. I don’t need to be in constant motion, always running. Right now I just want to stay.”
I still largely feel this way. Which makes this entire thing so bittersweet.
Then Tim got the offer from Ubisoft in Toronto and it was just too good to pass up. Tim will get to be a Cinematic Director, which is the high-level creative leadership position that Tim has been hoping to move into. They are going to match his Capcom salary and they have some really interesting and attractive perks. Such as their bonus structure which is so good that it works like royalties and once his game ships it’s likely that he will double his salary each year (none of his other studios had it set up quite like this). He’ll get four weeks of vacation time right off the bat and unlimited sick days. Plus he will receive a decently-sized signing bonus. We could not refuse. Tim backed out of the EA offer in Vancouver (and luckily they were totally understanding!).
I really, really don’t want to leave Vancouver. I’m pretty upset about it. When we moved away from Edmonton and Montreal I felt “ready” to leave. This is not the case this time. I have no desire to leave at all and I wanted to stay here indefinitely. So it’s hard this time. I feel like I had just gotten my life set up the way that I like it here and now I have to tear it all down and build it all up from scratch again. It’s exhausting. Frankly, I’m tired of doing it every few years. I was really looking forward to nominating my blog in the 2019 Top 30 Vancouver Mom Blogger search in April. I really think that I could’ve been selected. It’s hard to feel as if I never get to build anything for myself or gain any sort of foothold.
But on the other hand, of all cities that we could move to, Toronto is exciting. It’s comfortable and familiar and easy for us. It will come with a lot of wonderful plus sides, especially being close to my Toronto ladies again! And we’ll be close to Tim’s family and Archie will be able to grow up close to his cousins. We really do love Toronto and have often mused about living there.
SO! Here is a map! (Me and my famous maps...) This shows you where Ubisoft is located. We want to live within a 30 minute transit ride of Tim’s studio, which is roughly the circled area. The green square is around a neighbourhood called Trinity-Bellwoods, which I really like. I would love to live there or at least somewhere nearby. We’ll be continuing to rent.
Of course Ubisoft is going to pay for our entire move, including movers to pack, move and unpack our stuff. And they’re going to ship our car. And pay for flights for all of us. We’re going to be moving at the end of November. They are also providing us with a corporate apartment for two months. So we’ll have a free, furnished place to live in while we look for a permanent home during the months of December and January.
Whenever we make a big life decision we buy a bottle of Dom Pérignon to celebrate... So I mean, at least we’ve been able to have a bunch of bottles of this stuff over the years at this point, ha ha!
SO THAT’S THE NEWS!! I feel like I’m living on a roller coaster of emotions and I feel different things each day.
Life with Archie:
He has been mostly great! He’s such a cute and curious little boy. He gives the best hugs and kisses. He’s obsessed with books right now and wants to be read to constantly. He picks out books and hands them to us and demands that we read! He has learned that his name starts with the letter ‘A’ and says “A” when asked what letter his name starts with. He also points to the letter ‘A’ when he sees it and says that it’s an A. He loves all animals and loves to pet them gently. His comprehension of everything around him is so strong. However, he is still not talking. He knows a couple of words but never uses them on his own. So this month he has two Speech & Language Assessment appointments, an Infant Development Program appointment, and a Pediatrician appointment. I’m a bit stressed out about the fact that he is finally getting into all of these programs and now we’re moving away. It bothers me that it is probably going to take months to start all of this over again in Toronto and I don’t like the idea of delaying things even longer.
But he’s such a sweet and happy boy, that it’s hard for me to imagine that anything is “wrong” with him.
He’s also a great traveler! My little jet-set boy has now been on 15 flights, does great on planes, and has gotten his first passport stamp! He ate all of the food that we had while traveling and seemed to enjoy it!
So I guess that November is going to be mainly about getting our shit together so that we can move AGAIN?! You’d think that we’d be used to this by now but it’s exhausting every time. And on top of this, trying to start to prepare for Christmas??! I legit can’t deal with my life right now. I’m throwing a yoga + brunch farewell party for myself with my four Vancouver ladies and it’s going to be sad.
Send help.
THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!:
November 9th is Erin Anderson’s 31st birthday!
I have loved living with you as my neighbour over this past one year and three months. I wish that it could have been for longer! It has been so nice knowing that you’re just down the street and I have loved getting to spend more time with you. I’m glad that we had this time! I hope that Josh totally spoils you on your day! ♥
November 10th is Sarah Swalm’s 36th birthday!
Wishing you a wonderful day with many spoilings from Adam! I hope that everything is going super well with you and I hope to see you sometime soon. Thinking of you often, my friend. Love you and miss you always! ♥
November 20th is Carrie Schill’s 30th birthday!
The dirty thirty!!! Oh man. You just got to Vancouver!! We were finally living in the same place for the first time ever! I’m so sad that I won’t be here to stay with you on your VanCity journey. I hope that you continue to discover magical moments here without me. I will be envious! You know that I am always in your corner and will always be by your side no matter where I am. We will celebrate your birthday before I leave! ♥
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