Fog and Wonderful Westjet Service

The new chapter has begun. We're literally in the air, and headed for India. We'll land in Toronto shortly, and spend 3 days with our Ontario family before catching a fight to Delhi on Saturday... But the journey has begun, and we're on our way. We've left the Comox Valley!

The dreaming, planning and preparing are behind us at last.

The leaving was not as anticipated, and ultimately more enjoyable than we could have imagined! Our flight from the Comox Airport was cancelled yesterday morning because of heavy fog, but that's when things went from bad to wonderful.

The excellent people of Westjet put us on a bus that crossed the strait to the Mainland via BC Ferries, and then delivered us to the airport in Vancouver. Westjet then put us in a lovely room at the posh Fairmont Hotel, which is conveniently situated right in the airport! Westjet even gave us $80 to cover dinner and breakfast! The era of fabulous airline service is NOT behind us, at least not for Calgary-based Westjet!

The icing on the cake of our unplanned Vancouver visit was a brief meet-up with our daughter Anjali. She got herself up early enough to catch the Skytrain and meet us at about 6:30, before we went through security for our 8 o'clock flight. An extra special send off, and another unexpected gift!

As the adventure begins, we suspect this is just the first of countless delightful unanticipated detours we'll experience...

Family Time on Mt Washington

Because we'll be in India for six months, we're going to be away for Christmas. We'll also miss birthdays and other special family events. So this past weekend, the whole clan gathered on Mt Washington, at the chalet of friend and colleague Karen West. 

It was marvelous that everyone could make it--Aaron, Isaac, Annika, Anjali, Nathan, Emma, Paul and Lynn. By far the best thing was the chance to spend time together. Annika and Isaac seemed to especially enjoy getting to know their "brand new" Uncle Nathan.

There was grandma Lynn's fabulous turkey dinner in celebration of family and all our special occasions. Since Anjali's birthday will be this Saturday, we celebrated that with leftover wedding cake--from another big family event three weeks earlier. We made delightful new memories with games, hikes, stories, time in the hot tub, and more. The slideshow offers a peek into a very special family weekend.

Change is a Given and Change is a Gift

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus observed something as obvious 2,500 years ago as it is today... Change is the only constant in life. It seems we have been "in transition" for a rather long time. 

Our current season of transition has involved some major changes. This spring, Lynn facilitated the sale of her parents' home and completed the Herculean task of winding up their estate. At the end of June, Paul "retired" from his position of ten years as an assistive technology consultant with SET-BC. July saw the completion of 8 cycles of chemo that successfully dealt with Paul's lymphoma. In September, our daughter Anjali was married to Nathan Sihlis. 

So many significant changes, so many gifts and opportunities!

Now it's October, and we're on our way... back to India for six months. On the 22nd, we'll fly from Comox to Toronto for a brief visit with Paul's family in Ontario. On the 26th, we'll board a Jet Airways flight from Toronto to New Delhi. On the 31st, we'll travel by taxi from Delhi to Mussoorie.

For the next 6 months, we'll be based in the beautiful Himalayan community of Mussoorie. This is a wonderful gift in too many ways to list--especially the chance to reconnect with a country and community that we both love, as well as opportunities to use some of our gifts. Paul looks forward to helping out at GEMS, a special school in Sainji. Lynn doesn't know yet exactly how her time will be occupied, but she knows there are numerous options awaiting her.

A few Mussoorie images taken during a brief 2010 visit...