In my lifetime I have been both a wanderer, and a homebody, — both seem essential to me. I believe I have traveled to 42 or 43 countries (I counted once), however I have always needed a home ‘as sanctuary,’ and a community that I contributed to. I look back with great fondness on my twenty years in Longmont, Colorado, and am striving to connect here in some similar way. There, I was a practicing psychologist. Here, I am a Children’s Author.
I finished set up at Localeh Artisan Market in Westbank, B.C., about five minutes from my home in the last couple days. My books are now in Indigo Kids in Kelowna, here, on amazon in many countries, and on my website. What pleases my soul most are the brick and mortar businesses that house my books. While they certainly do not provide as much compensation as online, they satisfy my need to belong.
After moving back to Canada three years ago, most of my time has been during covid. My early efforts at building connections all slid away during months of isolation in the pandemic. I am fortunate — my isolation was on a mountain side and I wrote prolifically.
We, as a global village, are adjusting, and public life is reemerging, in spite of the virus’s continued travel around the globe. We need purpose in life, and I believe we need a place to feel at home in. Today was a step in the direction of building roots in “my” Canadian community.