Today I decided to stay home from work. Well, Wednesday I decided that I would take today off. We needed a ‘redo’. Tuesday I stayed home to have a much needed full day with the family as I gear up to leave. It was nice…ish, but everyone was sick. We went to Kilby, in Harrison Mills, for the morning. The weather was perfect, the water was really low, exposing load of sandy beach. This was matches with a bunch of complaining from all of the kids.

Oddly enough, during a “warm” March day about 25 years earlier, my much younger self and family were on that very same beach. I had convinced myself that as it was “warm” enough out I should probably go for a dip. My parents tried to explain to me that even though the air might have been warm, the water was surely not. But, I knew best. So my parents agreed that I could go for a swim. I touched the water and realized very quickly that my parents were correct. Not wanting to admit my parents were correct I ‘played’ in the water. Splashing a little – making sure to not get myself too wet. I found a log that stretched out over the water. I walked out onto it as if to prove a point that I could play in the freezing water. I slipped and I fell into that freezing water. My parents were correct – it was too cold. I probably cried. They probably laughed. I would have.

Spending time there that morning made me think of the memories that I have made here as I draw close to heading away. Memories of family, friends and the beautiful scenery of the South West. These past couple of weeks I have been driving all around the Lower Mainland I have been reminded of things from recently and from long ago.

The smell of the sea (which we won’t get up North) as I drove through White Rock reminded me of my maternal grandparents. Grandma’s cooking and making sure we felt special and loved when it was someone else’s birthday. Spending afternoons with Grandpa learning how to play chess and him letting us win. Or summer nights having a sleep over with all of the cousins on their porch, with the eldest of us claiming that UFOs were flying over head.

Or driving down 8th Ave past a… transmitter..? and my paternal Grandad claiming that it was the world’s largest gold ball. Or spending the day with Gran and Grandad at Mill Lake walking and listening to stories of yesteryears after a delicious roast and Yorkshire pud.

Memories of the exact spot that I met my bride. The first words I spoke to her. Out first date. First kiss. Where we got married. The houses we lived in when our first, second, third…… and fourth children were born. Adventures we have done together as a family.

Times spent with friends hiking, playing board games, celebrating birthdays, weddings and births of their own children. Times of loss, sorrow and sadness.

All these memories have been made through 32 years spent in the Fraser Valley/Lower Mainland. Time spent here that is soon to run out. Time is a funny thing. You look forward to certain times in life and want it to go by fast so that you can get there. Then there are things that you don’t necessarily want to come quickly, but there is nothing you can do to speed it up or slow it down. Time passes at the same pace if we want it to or not. If we like it or not. And with time come new memories. Memories that I look forward to making with friends and family on new adventures.

What is the moral of this second post? Is it that “time spent and memories made are the most valuable things in life”? Sure, it could be. Or is it, “even if you think your parents aren’t as smart as you, you should probably listen to them. They aren’t as dumb as you think”? I’ll let you figure that one out.

Throw in a comment! Ask questions, post memories, or just say a quick ‘Hi’. I will to my best to reply.

Take care and check in for a new post soon…ish. Maybe. If you’re lucky.

In a very short 3 days I will be leaving my beautiful wife and our 4 beautiful children, a nice house, 2 dogs and cat for a job one thousand, one hundred and twenty eight kilometers away.

In the nearly 12 years that we have been married, I have not been apart from Nicole or any of my kids for more than 2 days.  Or farther apart than 200 km more than twice.  Saying that this decision was an easy one, is as far from the truth as I am from where my new job is located.  Our plan is that we will be apart for no more than a total of 3 months – the length of my probationary period.  After which is when our eldest will be finished kindergarten and the rest of the (not so little) fam will follow me to the far reaches of this beautiful province. 

When we take a step back and look at the grand picture, 3 months of our lives isn’t much more than a spec in time.  But, when we take a step back… 3 months is 3 months. 12 weeks.  90 days.  2,160 hours.  And that is a long time. I am sure that in our own different ways, this time will prove to be very difficult for everyone.

That being said, I am very excited to have finally landed a position as a Bylaw Enforcement Officer and look forward to the new experiences, stories and adventures that it will bring for not only myself, but for Nicole and the kids too.  For those of you who do not know, I will give you a little bit of a history on my journey to this point.

Nearly 6 years ago I became interested in the idea of being a Bylaw Enforcement Officer.  With the support of Nicole, I quickly enrolled to the Justice Institute of British Columbia for their Bylaw course.  On my very first day of class the instructor told us all that the level 1 course was more or less an introductory class and that if we wanted to actually to purse a position we would need level 2 to be more seriously considered.  As soon as I got home I told this to Nicole and she agreed that it was a no brainer to enroll in the second course as well.  So I did.  Thankfully I was able to get into the very next course and took levels 1 and 2 back to back.

After class one day I spoke with the instructor asking for what would be my best options to quickly land a job.  I explained that I had previous experience as a Loss Prevention Officer and office exposure as well.  He said that these 2 things would definitely help me in my quest, but for the best chances, I would need to apply for positions outside of the Lower mainland and Fraser Valley.  An idea I wasn’t too keen on. Oh, and just so you know, I aced both courses.

So began the hopeful search for a position.  Since finishing those 2 courses, it took another nearly 5 years to get this job – and not because I wasn’t trying.  I looked daily for new job postings.  Anything I qualified for I applied.  I was over qualified for some.  Just to give you an idea, I applied (to some cities multiple times) for positions in:  Abbotsford, Agazzis, Burnaby, Chilliwack, Comox, Coquitlam, Cultas Lake, Dawson Creek, Delta, Fort Langley, Fort Saint John, Hope, Kamloops, Kelowna, Langford, Langley City, Mission, Maple Ridge, Nanaimo, New Westminster, Penticton, Port Moody, Prince George, Richmond, Surrey, Tofino, Tumbler Ridge, Victoria, White Rock.

After my application to the District of Mission (about 4 years in) I had a follow up call after a few weeks to ask how the process was going.  The lady I spoke with informed me that they had already shortlisted.  A bit frustrated and feeling pretty defeated at this point in time, I asked her for some feed back and why I wasn’t considered.  She said that I was a perfect candidate and she couldn’t see any issues with my application.  So I asked why didn’t I even get a call.  She told me that over FOUR HUNDRED people applied for the position.  I was also told that a lot of the times retired police or RCMP officers would get bored of not working and apply for the Bylaw positions.  How could I compete against that?  I felt like my chances were to slim to continue my search and shortly thereafter, gave up.

In early 2018 I was texting with Nicole while at work, complaining I’m sure, and I said “Why did I stop applying for Bylaw jobs?”  She quickly responded saying, “Cause you got frustrated because you never got any calls.”  Shortly followed by, “Why don’t you try again?”.  So I did.  Any opening that came up, I applied for.  Around this time, Nicole had started to talk about wanting to move out of the Lower Mainland/Fraser Valley (so for all of those who were ever in doubt this was a 50/50 decision!).  I began to broaden my search.  I applied farther North than ever before – hence Dawson Creek, Prince George and Tumbler Ridge. 

During the summer of 2018, I still hadn’t got any calls from any of my applications.  Then Nicole came up with an idea.  She said, “Why don’t you attach our family picture with your next application?”.  I laughed a little, thinking about sending a picture of our little fam with my application.  I was a little aprehensive.  A posting for Tumbler Ridge came up.  I applied… and attached a photo of our family.  Sure enough, after so many years of trying.  I got a call.  They wanted an interview.  The HR person, Roxanne was her name, said “we have never seen an application with a picture attached.  What a great idea!”  You were right… Thanks Nicole.  Anyways, I had the interview via telephone.  They said I interviewed very well and I was short listed to the shorter short list.  BUT It came down to me and 1 other applicant.  I was out experienced by said person.  I did not get the job.  Though, this gave me new hope.

I continued to apply (with family picture attached) for everything else that came up.  It was kind of slow through the summer and fall months with only a couple postings coming up.  Then came winter.  A posting new came up.  I applied.  A week went by.  No call.  The closing date passed, no call.  I gave up on this application with no calls.  But, we all know I wouldn’t be writing out the longest winded story OF ALL TIME for nothing.

One day while at work I received a phone call.  A ‘1-250’ phone call.  As the committed, hard working employee that I am, I didn’t answer it.  Just joking – I didn’t answer cause I thought it was a scammer.  Then I received an e-mail.  The e-mail read something along the lines of, “Hi Aaron.  This is (so-and-so) and I just tried calling you.  We have reviewed your application and would like to set up a Skype interview with you.  These are the times we have…”

I was so excited.  I couldn’t wait.  I was working though, so I waited til after work to respond.  We set up a time and had the interview a week later on a Thursday in the afternoon via Skype in my kitchen (They didn’t mention the family photo).  At the end of the interview I asked what the time frame was for the panel to have a decision.  They told me they had a few more interview a and would have a decision the following week.

The next day, whilst at work, I got a phone call.  The same ‘1-250’ scammer that had called me before.  I didn’t answer.  Then I got an e-mail.  Again.  An offer of employment as a Bylaw Enforcement Officer with conditions.  The conditions were:  that I could provide 3 work related references, provide my drivers abstract and to clear a Police Info Check.  Everything cleared a couple weeks later and I was given a start date.  March 25th.

That brings us pretty much up to today.  I fly up Sunday morning and am renting a space from acquaintances of my Father-in-Law.  As I said earlier, once our eldest is finished school, the rest of the family will come up to join me.  We are not selling our house here and plan to rent something for the first year and we will reassess our situation and decide what to do.

Now what was the moral of this first post?  Is it, ‘Never give up.  Never surrended’?  No, not necessarily.  It is good advice though.  The real moral is, ‘Always listen to your wife’.

The purpose of this ‘blog’ is more of less just to keep myself a little more busy than I am while I am alone so many miles away.  If perhaps I entertain those of you reading it, then great.  I am not going to commit to a daily, weekly or even bi-weekly post.  I may do one or two a day or maybe one every few days.  So keep checking in and follow along if you want.  Also, this probably won’t be grammatically correct or even politically correct.  If you don’t like or enjoy it, you don’t need to read it.

Now sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.