Moving on

Tags

Adriatic, Atlantic, life, Mediterranea, PEI, sailing, Sea

People asked me why are we moving to PEI, I tell them that I do not want to die in Ottawa. Now that is a dramatic statement, people look at you and wonder maybe I am dying and they asked the wrong question. Funny how people are never prepared for the answer to their questions, a rule of thumb I learned was never ask a question if you are not ready for the answer, because once it is given that is it.

But it is true, I do not want to die in Ottawa, I came here 40 years ago, I just realized that on my birthday, that is a lifetime. I came here for University and then work, but with work this was only HQ City and not a town in which I lived. I lived abroad for 22 years in various capitals of the world. So Ottawa has no special appeal for me. Time to move on, no sentimentality about it, again maybe my past life in the Foreign Service prepared me for that, since we often moved from one Capital to another without coming back to Ottawa. Everything was temporary and transient. So my thinking is, if I have let’s say 25 years left might has well be somewhere I want to be. We will forge new attachments there and look to the future.

I always wanted to live by the Sea since I was a little kid. When I was quite young one of my first memories was of vacations by the Atlantic sea board in New England with my parents. We spent the whole day at the beach playing in the surf and building sand castles, life was very simple, usually is when you are 3-4 years old, but those were the best vacations for a kid.

In Egypt I would go every weekend to the Villa the Embassy rented in Agami on the Mediterranean coast just a few kilometres West of Alexandria, again it was a deserted beach, we cooked and had fun. In Italy we spent our vacations on the Adriatic Coast at Pesaro, crowded beach but so nice. I like islands for that fact that the sea is everywhere, Capri, Sicily, two places I really like for their natural beauty.

Now as the header of my blog indicates, you can see the Red Sandy beaches of Prince Edward Island on the Atlantic. Long stretches of beach deserted and made for walking, lots of pine trees and quiet.

The ocean is fascinating to me, ever changing, temperamental, powerful, vast, we are so small and powerless in comparison.  I never tire of watching the Sea and I feel great peace.

We will in September have 7 days to admire the sea as we sail back from Europe, another first for me.

So we are moving to PEI for the Sea.