Metamorphosis

Probably a lot of people who are reading this are wondering how my family ended up in Vancouver. I’ve told a few people directly but haven’t made a public announcement. In short: I was negligent about the border rules and assumed as a Canadian I'd be given the benefit of the doubt. IANAL and I didn’t check in with one.

In more concrete terms, we had lived in the US for almost 8 years, but we never got permanent residency let alone citizenship. I was on the path to getting a PR while at Amazon, but gave it up in order to attend the Anake program in Sept 2017.

I quit my job, and “exchanged” my H-1B work visa for a M-1 student visa. The M-1 was due to expire whenever we decided to leave the US after the program ended in June. I had been planning to make a a short trip to BC to check out a sister nature school in Canada called Wisdom of the Earth, and that’s what we did on June 5, 2018 immediately after graduating from Anake.

My vague thought process was that “hey, my visa expired but as a Canadian, I can always come in as a visitor for 90 days, so I’ll just do that until I can get a new student visa for the 2nd year Anake apprenticeship program”. I had just graduated from Anake, the last three weeks of which are dubbed “The Gauntlet” including a five day survival trip. (I think) I basically felt invincible and US immigration rules were the last thing on my mind. This period of our lives is such a giant blur.

We tried to cross two times, waiting a cumulative 8 hours or so and being ultimatel denied entry both times.

I’m so grateful that being denied entry into the US meant that we got to land in this beautiful city now known as Vancouver on the unceded land of Musqueam peoples.

I’m grateful that I got to do a survival trip in a different context with my family. Unexpectedly in Vancouver with only a car load of camping gear and other essentials.

I’m grateful for the countless friends and neighbors that volunteered their time with moving, packing and hauling stuff out of our home in Seattle to eventually find it’s way to Vancouver, including and especially our cat Lawrence.

I’m grateful that I got connected with Soaring Eagle Nature School and was offered a position as a summer camp instructor, doing exactly what I had planned to do at the WAS camps over the summer, except now getting paid for it.

I’m grateful that my son got to experience summer camp with me and we now share a deep and rich experience of Pacific Spirit Park.

I’m grateful that I get to experience living in The Beehive collective community house with a bunch of fantastic people, a style of living that I’ve wanted to try for many years.

I’m grateful that Vancouver is a bicyclist’s utopia - you can get around by bike and not have to ride in a major traffic 99% of the time.

I’m grateful that recent heatwaves hitting this region are just a mildly uncomfortable 30ªC, and most of us can get on with our days without fear of heat stroke, unlike other areas around the globe.

I’m grateful that I got to live another day in relative peace and abundance.