Can it really be a year?

Wow. A year?  One whole year? No way - not possible, let me just check...

Wowser. (and yes, I used this expression before I left the UK ;) It really is.

A whole year since we loaded up those ten - sorry, eleven, suitcases, packed up our home into boxes and piles and orderly lines and shut the door on the empty box that we called home for eleven years.   As we drove down the gravel lane our dear neighbours and friends waved with all their might, tears a-plenty (inside & outside the taxi) not quite believing what we were doing...

It's been an amazing year - all in all - but not without it's challenges.  I'm laughing inside as I write this, like a flat tyre might be a challenge, or a missing button... Challenges so life changing, so identity forming, so deep & so ongoing, challenges that make me want to turn off the lights & make it all go away.  If I could turn back the clock... a long way... (that's one of Andy's favourites....)

It's not just a move, it was like throwing away everything you'd ever learned, all those subliminal things that you didn't even know you knew, the colour of sugar packaging, how to fill your petrol can, how to get car insurance... you throw it all away (or pack it up in boxes in your loft at Woolmer Terrace) and come with clean, clear heads.  Leave the country?  leave everything & everything you know on your way out, before you turn the lights off... it'll be of no use here.

So. So... we did it, we broke through the first days of excitement, weeks of organisation, months of embedding ourselves into a new culture, and trust me, it's a new and very different culture, we broke through all that, sometimes we even came up for air. Only on occasion though, no time to breathe... get on with your life, or rather get on with making your life or you lose momentum. 

The children started in their amazing school, all big and brave - bigger & braver than I was, leaving the country?  Leaving everything you ever know? Tie up the business? Move to the unknown? Pah - peanuts in comparison to walking away from the kids as they eneterd that enormous 'Elementary' school that day... Oh how I counted down the hours...  I guess you have all that from the blogs at the time.

Apart from the tough, chewy bits, the highlights have been a-plenty.  We've had amazing welcomes, almost daily 'Welcome to Canada's for the first few months, endless invitation to dinner, parties, trips and more, everyone was so unbelievably... Canadian, friendly, helpful, generous, everyone (without exception) wanted to make us feel at home, which helped.  Invites for Christmas, to our dear friend's the Loyd's and then for amazing summer breaks & Thanksgiving too - we do give thanks for such an amazing family in our world.  We had the snow, the skiing, the snow-shoeing & the botched attempt (mine) of snowboarding, we enjoyed that Winter - one we got to grips with the fact the kids were out in the playground at minus 19 - yes it happened - and planned accordingly... we started to enjoy that white stuff BIG time! Oh the fun we had on that mountain, hey babe ;)

When the white stuff disappeared we look forward to summer, I threw myself into organising the school Spring Disco with a couple of friends, it rocked - we rocked - and I got to meet a ton more people & everyone knew who I was - yep, still the exhibitionist, why ever not? Even Tom said he was proud of me :) Andy took up coaching of the soccer (I have to call it that, OK? Football is something entirely different over here...) absolutely loved it, spent the summer with loads of kids hero-worshipping him and got to look like he knew what he was doing, he loved it & it added a new layer of 'life' to our lives... respect to him for that.

So, the kids & Andy learned to ski, I fumbled my way through that... we made tons of friends, I did the disco & Andy did (and still does) the soccer, and we're only at Spring... what else happened?

Well, there were the visitors... and there have been many!  How cool is that?  We leave, lock stock & two smokin' barrels and our friends & relatives save their hard-earned wonga to come & see us & where we live?  Well, I for one am gobsmacked.  How amazing to be able to link your old with your new, to weave a thread between two continents, to have English feet pad around on Canadian soil - because of us... that's cool, I'm proud of that... We had the party in June - 7 months here & 70 people, 70 friends crossed our threshold, we all had a ball, pool party, cocktails and a wonderful cake 'Canada loves the Galloways'... you know who you are :) x

Andy once said that amidst the anxiety of the whole mood he was excited at the possibility that he - he - may have been the one that when, in 50 or a 100 years time, his ancestors would look back and see our names on the family tree, and those of our children, as the ones that made the move from one continent to another... in 2009 the Galloways family moved from England to Canada and the rest is history.... Yes.  I get that, I really do.

So, that we have had visitors has meant the world to us.  First it was Sheila, Andy's wonderful mum, in May, followed by the beautiful, welcome & so needed Sarah & Colin in June, Oh how we laughed, Oh how we partied....

Then the delightful Sheila returned in September, followed swiftly by my mother, Anne, & my dwarlink baby brother Ceej in October.  How lovely to be able to show your family & friends how much of a life you've built up in a short time, remember, e.l.e.v.e.n.... suitcases.  Nothing else.  We had to buy everything from garlic presses to trucks - and everything in between.  Our wealth still sits in England, we started again like newlyweds and it was humbling & fun...

During that time we looked after a friends beautiful, stunning, Bed & Breakfast in Revelstoke - the place that was the catalyst for all things Canada - two and a half weeks of goat herding, chicken rearing, turkey wrestling... dogs, cats, bears, coyotes.  OK I lied about the bears. That was amazing, if we could make our business work there we'd be outta here... we love Revelstoke - and now it has Sarah & Colin's and Mum & Ceej's fingerprints all over it it's even more special, we're saving that for our retirement....

So, I guess being the 'anniversary edition' this was likely to be the longest blog post yet but it continues....

The business has picked up, knocked sideways by the UK Clients continuing to use GallowayCAD like we were still in Greatham, how amazing is that? Still, one year on they are sending work through as before, we count our lucky stars every day.  I connected with a wonderful company in town back in May and they have invested in my experience for a good time now, I'm meeting tons of great people through Total Office and loving every minute, knowing we need to lay the foundations here Andy has - ironically - started working with a new Client in town on the day of our first Canadian anniversary, who'd have thought it, and we have irons in the fire with some big names in town as well as the BC government and beyond.  Things take a while to pick up in this place and we've been at the helm, pushing our way through the ice, relentlessly - they're all probably fed up with the sight of us, but it looks like GallowayCAD - and it's evolution - will be even bigger & stronger than it was in the UK, given enough time... and that is one area we KNOW we deserve a break, damn we work hard!

And so, we did the year, we shed the tears, more tears than we ever have, we left the friends and gained some more, we saw our kids (and ourselves) develop into different  people, stronger somehow, and we're still standing.  Amelie has the accent - odd & cute all at the same time, Tom had the words.. ARSEOME.. at every turn... and us, well yes, we have thicker skin & stronger backbones but we're still us & we love you all...

Thank you for all your support his year, we really couldn't have done it without you xxx