Sanctuaries

It's officially summer today, and I celebrated by sleeping in after another fun Friday night of social tennis at our local club. I also decided to treat myself to a low-key, do-little weekend, and am enjoying coffee on the deck while my better half is behind me at the patio grill, starting what will surely be a delicious brunch. The local birds are making a racket around me, no doubt excited by the suet dangling from the bar area a few feet away, while my cats plot their demise and the dog just rests at my feet. We've been in this house five years now, a very average, older Toronto home that sits a few streets from the lake and far enough away from the city centre to boast a fairly large yard. I've spent the better part of five springs designing an outdoor space to be a refuge from the outer world, and I've finally succeeded in surrounding myself with greenery and natural beauty.

There are no fancy deck chairs or expensive plants, and I suspect most people would find it completely ordinary, but it was built to be simple and calming. For the next few months, this will be my main sanctuary as I soak in the warmth of the sun, and settle in to finishing the final book in my rock fiction series. The completion of this novel has eluded me for a year and a half, and the move to a new job for September has finally put all the demons to bed in that regard: my head is clear, my heart is happy, and my pen is once again flowing.

In less than a week, the school year will be over and I will be in New York City. I'm excited because it's one of my favourite places in the world, I'm going to meet a lovely online friend and get to spend some time with my brother and sister-in-law, and because the rescheduled trip (I was grounded in March by the 763rd snowstorm of the winter!) will frame the start of the summer in the same manner as our time in Scotland will mark the end of it. Travelling for me is also a sanctuary of sorts, and there is something soothing for me to be away from home, surrounded by different landscapes, meeting new people, and experiencing history and geography so unlike what I know here in Canada.

My departure gate at Pearson in March...



I'm looking forward to these two particular trips because they will both allow me to meet new friends, friends I've not met in person but who were instrumental in keeping me sane over the last ten months as I went through an impossible school year under difficult circumstances. If it weren't for their good humour and silly banter, their kindness, and their willingness to listen and give advice, I know that I would not be in such a good place today. Along with my family and close friends here, they often made me forget the despair that engulfed me at work, and I look forward to meeting up and having some laughs and good chats with them.

When my husband and I attended the world premiere of 'Sunshine on Leith' last September, the blue skies of Edinburgh filled the screen and we jokingly whispered to each other that it was time to go back to Scotland.

We've only been there once, in the summer of 2001, shortly after I lost my father to cancer; I was emotionally devastated and exhausted from the three-month ordeal of caring for him, and our 1600 km driving trip from one end of the country to the other brought me out of a deep melancholy: the capital city was beautiful and welcoming, and as we moved north to the Highlands, the castles were great fun to explore and the landscape was starkly majestic. By the time we had come down Loch Ness and crossed over to Skye, I was in love with the country and its generous, kind inhabitants. It didn't hurt that we fell upon two weeks of glorious sunshine and temperatures hovering around 24C. All in all, a perfect vacation that allowed me to heal my broken heart.

As this school year progressed and I found myself sinking under what can most kindly be described as a micromanaging, soul-destroying, pettily vindictive administration, our joke began to morph into a plan for the summer. We loved our time there when we knew no one, I reasoned, so how much better would it be to go again now that we have friends there? My husband agreed, and so I am now in my middle of perusing travel guides to make sure we catch all the touristy things we missed on the first pass as I design an itinerary that will allow us to meet our friends in the east, west, and northern corners along the way.

As for the healing, I have a feeling lightning will strike twice: once in New York City, and again in August.