“Change is in the air,” I wrote in my July issue Last Word, and for different reasons, the same holds true as I sit down to write this one. The Labour Day long weekend is upon us, and we’ll all be trying to take advantage of a few final days of summer fun and (hopefully) heat before returning to reality and the world of school, work, schedules and, in the not-too-distant future: the dreaded rain.
For me, the summer months have always been about family. When I was growing up, we spent the majority of July and August at my grandparents’ house on the Sunshine Coast, joined by one set of cousins or another, and those hot, beachy days were capped off by our annual family reunion.
Now, the summer is when our Calgary relatives come to visit, and I love my daughter having the chance to get to know this side of her family as they bond over a week or so spent in each other’s company. But now the last houseguests have made their way home, not to be seen again until we go out for a visit at Christmastime. Our most recent visitors were my father- and mother-in-law, who stayed for 10 days and really made an impression on my young daughter. For days after they left, she couldn’t quite understand that they were gone, for now, and we wouldn’t be seeing them again for a while. Every time I suggested a trip to the park or the beach, “Papa and Nana come too?” she’d ask. When gently reminded that Papa and Nana don’t live here so can’t come to the beach, tears would often come.
Change is a hard thing to come to terms with, and not just for toddlers! In Tara Logan’s “Inside Out” column on page 57, she shares that “Our minds naturally resist change; nervousness begins about starting something new, worry stirs and pretty soon we may have sleepless nights and even notice a state of anxiety.”
Whether it’s sending your child off to school for the first time, starting a new job or returning home after summer holidays, change can certainly be unpleasant, but it’s also a chance for growth and possibility. That new job could be a perfect fit; your child being away during the day might give you the spare time you need to get back into a hobby; and the oncoming fall and winter months mean warm sweaters, crisp air, fall leaves and the promise of Christmas around the corner. It’s really just about how you look at it!
