You know how sometimes when one door closes, another, better one, opens? Flashback to the beginning of December in Toronto. It was freezing cold and I just got let go from my warehouse work, seeing it as the ultimate sign to start writing more than ever. One week later I found a fancy job as a communication specialist at a scientific research institute. It took me eight hours of exams, two job interviews, Saturday meetings and a total makeover to fit into their corporate world. But I got the job!
All I had to do now was change my dresscode, hide tattoos, take out piercings, wear skirts that cover my knees and look like a corporate copy. And I would have to stay in Toronto until my Canadian visa expires. Okay, I thought, I can do this. I was a bit nervous. With shaky hands I stored away my dreams of moving to Vancouver Island and writing about things that don't necessarily involve scientific research while wearing golden flower dresses and dying my hair pink. The company offered me a welcome dinner and a salary I thought I would never earn in this lifetime. I would start as soon as I returned from my month of winter holidays in Belgium.
But on the last day of 2016 I got an email from the scientific institute. Bad news. They were not able to give me the job. I saw the bubble of me looking like a business woman in my corporate outfit pop, together with the idea of living in a big grey city for another six months, working a 9 to 5 job writing lab reports while wearing fake glasses. (When I think of myself as a business woman, I always wear glasses.) Pop! Nothing left. But relief.
Again, an ocean of possibilities opened up and as the waves waltzed in, so did I. I decided not to let this shake my mood and danced all ideas of elegance away. Fresh adventures, I thought as I twirled around in my glitter dress. When the headache kicked in and sparkles were traded for PJ's, I opened a new email. A friend from Vancouver Island was looking for a roommate. If I'm interested to move in with her and live in the finest of Canadian nature, between ocean and mountain, lakes and pines, beach and bears? I didn't have to think twice.
I packed all my glitters, flowers, dresses that dramatically show both my knees, art supplies and dreams into my backpack and booked a flight to BC. Island life, I'm ready!