6 year anniversary of leaving Iceland

This year was all about building on the successes of the first year in Alberta. I didn’t add any new responsibilities or titles, but tried to make right with my existing activities.  It was the year that I worked the hardest in all my life; I’m exhausted but have seen the rewards of my hard work.

The biggest of which is the opening, on this 1^st of May, of the Clinique francophone de Calgary.  I try to stay humble, but I truly feel like I deserve some credit for its opening: funding, staffing, leasing the space, marketing, etc. I’m quite attached to it.  Now the real work of ensuring its success begins.

I’ve tried staying in better touch with friends this year. I was happy to have Carl and Phil over for a week last summer during which we went to Montana (I’d never imagined that but there we were) and enjoyed my bachelor party with some of my best friends in Las Vegas in January.

I assumed the Presidency of the Calgary Balloon Club in November and have made small but consistent efforts to try and encourage young people to get involved in ballooning.  I only got to go to High River for the Western Canadian/Heritage Inn event last fall but this year is already looking much more promising. I discovered more of Alberta through the Calgary Canucks Jr. A team as we failed to make the playoffs once again. I recently emceed the awards banquet where Dennis Hull spoke, maybe that can lead somewhere.

Catie and I are all set to get married in August.  This yearly blog falls on our anniversary and today its 4 years together.  Re-reading the previous editions of this blog and following the evolution of our relationship through them is just as enjoyable as spending new time with the person who will be with me for my entire life.

Emelie visited twice since the last writing, and of course it snowed both times.  It also snowed in September which was annoying, but I golfed both the weekend before and after.  Emelie’s visits are a great opportunity to visit the tourist sites and museums we never give ourselves the chance to see otherwise, but we also spend time doing puzzles.

While the memories of Iceland are now further and further away, I still get to spend time with the friends I’ve made, including spending a few hours with Joel while on a whirlwind trip with work that saw me hit Cornwall, Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes and Saint-Boniface over a three day span.  I’ve yet to catch my breath.

This is the first time in seven years that I’m not moving, not changing bedrooms and not writing this blog from a different room than the year before.  In re-reading my previous posts, I see a person whose life is constantly changing.  Now things have been the same for a little while.  Still trying to catch my breath.