this only happens once

“Something in my being told me I had been here before. Maybe it was the way we ran down to the river that day as the rain came pouring out of the sky; heavy, loud, and all at once consuming. Maybe it was the way you looked at me that summer, like something out of a filmy polaroid photo. The lilacs were in bloom, and the way they met the dark green of the trees reminded me of a home I had always known. This is home. I am home.”

“This only happens once” are the words I remember thinking during my time living and working at a hostel just down the highway from the West gate of Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario. I still recall the moment the Honda Fit pulled into the driveway and a bright woman with long red hair greeted us with a wave and a smile as she walked out of the fridge gazebo. The next night, we had the first of many potluck dinners around the wooden picnic tables out front, and from that moment on, we were a family.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the world and all of us humans in all sorts of complex and challenging ways. My gratitude forever goes to the wooden lodge that held my hostel family, visiting friends, and loved ones during the strangest years of my life thus far. We sang to folk tunes and endless John Mayer, danced ecstatically and belted Christmas tunes over wooden spoons to Frankie the dog, snuggled on couches, slept in front of the fire when it got cold, did too many squats that made our legs burn, baked fries supreme one too many times, sun bathed on the dock, dipped in the river when the water got cold, floated on tubes, got hot in the sauna, jumped in the snow, burned cedar over the fire, watched the caterpillars bloom into beautiful monarchs, harvested herbs, drank lemonade, ran, canoed, and so much more. All the while, I was working online and cleaning up after guests at the hostel to earn my stay. It was the best of times, in so many beautiful ways.

Summer flew by and quickly melted into fall. Algonquin is still to this day my favourite place on earth to be during the fall. The leaves change color and drift off of the trees, blowing around in the autumn breeze, and it is like a chorus of colors and scents come alive in my being. It makes me feel so at peace.

As winter approached and the days became darker and the nights colder, a decision to buy plane tickets to Ecuador was made, and soon I was off on a totally new adventure. I couldn’t have known at the time all of the adventures, excitement, fun, play, learnings, growth, pain, and heartbreak that was just around the corner. But that’s for another blog post.

All for now,

All my love,

Onward.

-m

(Written 01/01/2024)