Where Did This Begin - Part II

I realized I forgot a couple of significant pieces in the "Where Did It Begin Story."  In 2005, I was being coached by my good friend Joanne McLean.  Part of the coaching project involved me envisioning where I wanted to be in 10 years time, if there were no obstacles to realizing my dream.  My vision placed me living in the rockies, in a lovely log home.  Another step in the process was to transform my vision into action steps and plot them on a timeline.  Moving out west was scheduled for - you guessed it, 2012!   However, there is a lot of ground to cover between visioning and bringing that vision to life. When I realized we just were not going to have enough money to buy a few acres with a log home on it in the rockies, I gave up on that and looked at other possibilities, like purchasing property in the Mt. Tremblant area.  But when Colin and I visited Mark in Dec. 2009 to go skiing, on the last day we went for a walk from Mark's apartment to his place of work, the Banff Springs Hotel.   By the time we had walked there and walked around a bit, it was going to be tight to walk back and get to the airport on time so we took a taxi back. 

The taxi driver was a friendly, talkative fellow with long grey hair tied in a pony tail.  Talk turned to how much he enjoyed living out west.  I asked him, "Do you live in Banff?" wondering how he could afford that.  He answered that yes, he did live in Banff.  He and his wife lived in a small apartment, but he added with much enthusiasm, "this is my backyard" sweeping his hand around to encompass the beautiful mountain scenery.  At that point, the lightbulb went off in my head that we too could afford to live in the rockies if we lived in a condo.  If I walked the talk and lived in a compact, walkable neighbourhood, I could very well live in the land of my dreams!  On my next visit to Banff, I made a point of touring a condo in Canmore to see if I could adapt to a condo after living in a single family home for the last 30+ years.  I looked out the large living room windows at the most beautiful view of the mountains that YES I COULD!