Violence in the Media

A few weeks ago, my husband told Nicole that if she behaved in church, then we could go play places.  She immediately associated "play places" with McDonald's and talked about it until we promised to take her there for icr cream later.  As it turned out, she just wanted to play, so my husband and I had coffee and read the newspaper while the girls toured the tunnels of the play place.

Vancouver riots

After I'd read all the latest about Will and Kate's tour to Canada, another article caught my eye.  The newspaper columnist brought up the riots following the Vancouver Canucks' loss of the Stanley Cup, and suggested that the media had a role to play in those events.  While I hadn't viewed any footage of the riots, I'd seen enough comments in my friends' Facebook statuses to get an idea about what had happened—and to be disgusted myself over some people's reactions to a game.

This columnist suggested that, in a current where the popular media glorifies any sort of violence, we shouldn't be at all surprised when our young people react to losing what is often a violent game.  Fights in hockey games are officially frowned up—but don't they make the game more exciting?  Check out the video games teens are playing these days; how many involve shooting and killing?  What about movies—computer animations has made big action and big violence a lot more possible these days (at least, I assume a lot of it is computer generated...).  Just turn on the TV news or look at the newspaper; I don't often do that, because what appears is more violence—murders, robberies, car accidents, etc.

I agreed with this newspaper columnist, who suggested that the media—which has been pointing fingers at everyone else for the riots—should take a look at their own role. The media hyped up the game and the fact that the Canucks were sure to win (I never thought so).  Movies and TV hype up violence and revenge.  So why were we surprised that Vancouver rioted when they lost?

One movie recently had a more positive message.  While Thor had its share of action (and fighting), the overall message was one of non-violence and peace. In fact, Thor is banished from his kingdom by his father because he wants to fight and his father urges peace.  Only when Thor learns the value of sacrifice—giving up his own life to save those he loves, rather than trying to fight and cause more harm—does he regain his rightful place as king.  He returns to his throne and even tries to save the brother who betrayed him.  Hopefully the sequel—and other Hollywood movies—will continue this message of peace rather than war.

Grandma Rides a Motorcycle

Once last week while we were visiting my mom, we met her in the city for coffee after she got off work. As we waited in the Jeep for her to get ready to ride her motorcycle, I told Sunshine, “Grandma D is putting on her motorcycle pants. She’s almost ready.” Sunshine added, “And her mitts!” I was taken aback until I remembered Mom’s riding gloves, but Sunshine continued, “She needs mitts to keep the bugs off her hands. A bug hit her hand once and now she wears mitts.”

My mom got her bike after she turned 50. Her first bike was also my brother’s first bike. He bought it from a fellow at church, and when he was going to sell it to buy a bigger bike, Mom said, “I want your old bike.” It took her several tries to pass her motorcycle course, however, so the bike mostly sat in the yard. After she passed the course, and before she got her license, she bought herself a brand-new bike.

Now, whenever I see a motorcycle on the road, I think of my mom and my brother (and say a prayer for them). While we’ve joked before about my brother’s kamikaze behaviour, my mom rides her bike comfortably, never faster than the speed limit. She and my brother went riding together on the Easter weekend when they got their bikes out of storage for the summer, and my brother said that Mom probably saved him from a few speeding tickets.

As I pulled the Jeep up beside Mom’s bike on the highway so that Sunshine could wave at Grandma, I thought there aren’t many people who can say their grandma rides a motorcycle. Sometimes I worry that with an uncle and a grandma who ride bikes, Sunshine and Lily will want to ride as soon as they’re old enough. Whether they do or not, what I hope they learn from Grandma D is to follow their dreams.

Just Stop and Ask Directions

I'm not good with directions.  Well, that's not quite true.  If the directions are absolutely clear and minutely step-by-step, then I do okay.  The problem is that I worry about going new places and then I start to second-guess my directions.  Then I panic and make a wrong turn and get lost.

Knowing this, I asked my husband to print me a map for getting through Vancouver when I drove back to Alberta with the girls last week.  Usually, he's either driving through Vancouver or navigating while I drive.  This time, I was solo, and I wanted to make sure I didn't end up at the border crossing (like we did the first time we drove back to Alberta) or (even worse) in downtown Vancouver.  So he looked it up on Google maps for me, talked me through the directions (reminding me how we'd driven it just a few months ago) and printed the map for me.

In reality, the map was about as good as Dumbo's feather.  It didn't show Tsawwassen or the TransCanada.  It just showed me the middle—a vague blue line intersecting a few other lines and driving through names like Surrey and Langley.  I still clung to that map, checking it whenever I feared I was going the wrong way, and reassuring myself that I did indeed have to drive through Surrey and Langley to get to the highway.  Without a problem (other than typically thick Vancouver traffic), we reached the TransCanada and I could set the cruise control and relax until we reached Kamloops.

I should have thought ahead to Kamloops and planned my route there as well.  Usually, we go straight through Kamloops on the highway, heading for Banff.  This time, I was going to go north, through Jasper.  So when we woke up at my friend's and got ready to hit the road, I just started driving down Highway 3... and then began wondering where I was supposed to turn off at Highway 5. 

I finally turned around to ask directions... took a wrong even just doing that... talked to a lady who wasn't completely sure which way I needed to go, but helped me look at the map... drove all the way back downtown... took a wrong turn... took a long, scenic drive through Kamloops (a lovely but very big city) and made it back to Highway 5... only about an hour later than I should have been.

Our first glimpse of Mount Robson

You could say the drive was uneventful after that, as I only had to follow Highway 5 north until it intersected with Highway 16.  And once I got there, I almost whooped, because it was familiar territory—I grew up not far from that highway.  Mount Robson was a blessedly familiar sight (which we had to stop and take pictures of) and Jasper was like coming home.  I was there almost every summer of my growing up years and, more recently, every spring with my girlfriends. 

Hopefully, the rest of our trip continues just as peacefully.  I've asked for directions of nearly everyone we're visiting and still have my map of Vancouver to make it safely back onto the Island next weekend.

Creating Community (Part 3)

Community for us has always meant finding a faith community.  Even before we moved out here, we asked, “Where is the closest Catholic church?”  We were excited to discover that it was less than a kilometer away and offered a student Mass plus daily Mass on campus.  We walked or biked to church a few times last summer and joined the other students after Mass for a social time.

However, as the year progressed, I began to feel that we weren’t in the right place.  We were the only married students and the only students with kids.  While Sunshine loved playing with the other students, I found it hard to connect because my daily life as a student mom was so different than theirs.  It also felt rather obvious whose kids were not sitting quietly during Mass.  As the second semester began, I started suggesting we find a more family-friendly Mass.  My husband’s work schedule soon made it hard for us to attend the student Mass, and we began attending other Masses around the city.

When I saw a mom’s group listed in the Sunday bulletin of one church we attended, I almost whooped.  Here was a place we could belong!  I could hardly wait for Wednesday morning to go meet the other moms.  And when we showed up, it was even better than I expected.  A group of grandmas watched the children while the moms went upstairs for fellowship.  The moms welcomed me warmly and I felt an instant connection with them.   

That first week, I just sat there, soaking up the feeling of being with other Catholic moms who faced the same questions and struggles that I did.  As the weeks went on, Sunshine began talking about “my friends” and ran to give the grandmas a hug as soon as we arrived and I found myself making the kind of close friends I’d had in northern Alberta.

The other day, as my husband and I drove out of the city for a family gathering of Catholic homeschoolers, he asked me how often I’d met the hosts before.  Only twice, I said, but “you know how you meet some people and you feel like you’ve been friends forever?  Like you have so many things in common you could talk for the next week without running out of things to say?  That’s the kind of friends I’ve found through mom’s group.”

You might also want to read Creating Community Part 1 and Part 2.

Creating Community (Part 2)

When we talked about moving into university family housing, it was mostly for logistics.  Family housing offered cheaper rent close to campus, so we’d save on transportation costs.  In terms of babysitting, it also meant we’d only need a sitter for the time we were in class—not class time plus an hour bus ride to and from.  We didn’t even think about the fact that we’d be living with other student families.  Instant community.

One of the biggest blessings of the University of Victoria has been their Family Centre.  (I’ve heard they have the best support for families at almost any university in Canada.)  Three times a week, the Family Centre is open for two hours in the morning for “playgroup”—crafts, snacks, stories, games, and music for preschool kids.  I’ve watched both Sunshine and Lily blossom through this program, as they get to know the other children and have a safe space to explore and learn.

It’s also been a place for me to connect with other moms, though often that connection is a quick “Hi, how are you, did your kid sleep any better than mine last night?” before we run off to encourage a child to share or help them get a snack or take them to the potty.  One of the moms has started organizing a monthly ladies’ night at the local pub, where we usually end up staying for much longer than we intend just because it’s so good to talk about being student moms (or the wives of students) without be interrupted.

We’ve been especially blessed in that our townhouse faces one of the best parks in Family Housing.  Out of the ten homes facing the park, six have three-year-olds.  Sunshine only has to run outside the door to find her friends—and often during the day I’ll hear her shout, “My friends are outside!  Can I go outside?”  Us moms get to chat while we watch our kids play (and encourage them to share and take turns and wear their helmets when riding their bikes and not throw rocks in the park and…).

I’ve been trying to think of another neighbourhood where we’d find so many young families in such a small area.  Growing up, my friends lived around the block of down the road.  There weren’t many other families in our acreage who had kids our age.  Family Housing has been one of the biggest blessings of moving out here, and we’ll miss these families when we finish our degrees and move on again.

Creating Community (Part 1)

If we’ve learned anything by moving four times in four years, it’s the value of community (and of good boxes).  Our first move—from our parents’ houses to our own apartment when we got married—was easy.  We lived half an hour away from our parents, in the same city as of our university and young married friends, and half an hour from our church home.  I worked the same job and my husband had a year left at the university.

When we talked about moving, a year later, it was with excitement.  In our new home in northern Alberta, we jumped right into community activities.  At church we were soon helping with children’s liturgy and serving coffee; my husband joined Parish Council and sang with the choir; I compiled the bulletin, read during Mass, and played my violin in the choir.  I took Sunshine to the moms and tots aquafit and we went to community jamborees and participated in school events.  And then, at the end of the year, my husband’s contract wasn’t renewed and we faced a move again.

Our move back to central Alberta was both exciting and sad.  We were going to be closer to family, which we had missed when we lived in northern Alberta, but neither of us had a job and we knew this was a temporary move.  When I started working full-time at Starbucks, and my husband was substitute teaching during the day and working for H&R Block in the evenings, our hours ruled out most social activities.  Halfway through the year, we switched churches because the Mass times were better at the new church and we hadn’t made any friends at the previous church, despite staying for coffee after Mass each week.  I made some work friends, but any camaraderie we shared in Starbucks ended when we locked up at night.  It was a long, lonely year, broken only by the fact that we could visit his parents and my grandparents whenever we weren’t working (and we miss them now that we’re out here).

As we prepared to move to Victoria, we talked about how good it would be to have community once again.  To know that we were staying somewhere longer than a year and could get involved in church and other activities once again.  The biggest downside was that by going to the university that offered the most for both of us—a co-op program for my husband and a writing program for me—we were leaving behind our families.  We would need a good community in our new home to make up for that.

If you have moved recently or frequently, how do you find friends and create community after your move?

Stealing Blog Ideas

The other day it struck me how much my blogging has been the result of stealing ideas from someone else.  This blog itself was a friend's idea.  She started a blog as a way for our group of college girlfriends to connect with each other after we finished university and scattered around the province.  I soon found I was posting more than my other friends and decided that maybe, instead of monopolizing the group blog, I should just start writing my own blog.  And so, five years ago, The Koala Bear Writer was born.

A little while ago, I noticed Writer Mom had created a Facebook Fan Page for herself as a writer.  Cool, I thought.  I browsed her page and decided that was something easy I could do to promote myself as a writer.  How did I make my own page?  After looking around Facebook unsuccessfully, I finally messaged my friend and said "Help!"  She quickly sent me back a response, telling me how to create my own page (go to my FB Fan Page; look on the left-hand side and just at the bottom of the sidebar, you'll see a link saying "create page."  Click that and follow the instructions).  Easy!

Soon after that, I visited Holly's blog after she found and commented on my blog.  Her blog button caught my eye and made me wish I had something like that.  Then I saw the whole page of blog buttons she had for her friends.  Okay, if they all had blog buttons, I wanted one too.  But I'm not really good at HMTL.  Turns out I didn't have to be.  I googled "how to make a blog button" and found a couple neat tutorials by other bloggers like Blogging with Amy, Oikology 101, and Quips and Tips for Successful Writers.  In less than twenty minutes, I had my own cool blog button!

Meeting other writers and bloggers, and sharing ideas with them, has been one of the highlights of blogging for me.  There are so many amazing bloggers out there with so many great ideas, it's hard to keep up with all of them.  Before I started blogging, I would've never dreamed of meeting someone online or becoming good friends just by reading each other's blogs.  But that's just what has happened, and it's so much fun to share ideas and get to know each other.  To all my fellow bloggers, thank you!

Why I Watch Reality TV

My husband likes reality TV shows.  I'm not such a fan of them  They don't seem "real" to me.  The contestants know they are performing before a camera and whatever they do and say is carefully edited  before it ever appears on TV.

There are a few reality TV shows we enjoy watching together.  A few years ago, we followed Canada's Worst Driver and Canada's Worst Handyman. I found those shows funny because they involved things that people should be able to do (especially in the driving case) and are really bad at.  We like The Amazing Race for the places contestants travel and the way they have to work as teams to complete the tasks.  Recently, we finished watching The Voice (I was rooting for Dia Frampton or Vicki Martinez).

However, as I thought about watching reality TV shows, I realized that it's about more than just the show.  It's about doing something together.  We both like watching movies, but if I want to do something together with my husband, I'm more likely to suggest something else—a walk or a game or a project around the house—where we can talk to each other while we're doing it.  Dinner and movie dates work for me because we can talk before we go to the movie.

Some evenings, though, by the time he gets home from work and we have supper and he goes to the gym and I put the girls to bed and we watch a movie because we're both too tired to do anything else and then we go to bed, I feel like we haven't connected that day.  We haven't talked.  Sure, we had the "how was your day" and "what did you do today" chat, but we didn't share opinions or ideas or anything like that.

Reality TV shows let us talk.  We can compare notes on whose singing/danging/driving we like best or worst and why.  We can talk about the costumes and the competitors and the show and the music.  We can agree or disagree with the judges' comments or the contestants' choices.  And I like that.  I watch reality TV shows because it's a way to connect with my husband.

How I Became an Editor

When I first joined Inscribe Christian Writer's Fellowship in 2000 and attended my first Fall Conference, Elsie Montgomery was the president and Nathan Harms was the editor of FellowScript.  I admired them from afar; surely they were great, amazing writers who'd have no time for an amateur, wanna-be like me.  Over the year, as I attended Fall Conferences and read each issue of FellowScript from cover to cover, I discovered that this was an incredibly friendly group of writers who were happy to sit down with a teenage writer and say, "Follow your dreams!  Keep writing!"

Me at the 2000 Fall Conference

A few laters, when I started university, I looked at the student newspaper with interest but again thought that surely there were better writers than I who could get involved.  In my first two years, I submitted only one short article to The Blue & White.  (It was published and received high praise from one of my favourite professors.)  Finally, in my third year of university, I applied for a position with the paper and for the next two years worked as the Story Editor.  My job was to read every submissions we received and to edit it for spelling/grammar.  I loved doing that.

During this time, I continued to read FellowScript.  Marcia Laycock was president of ICWF now and Elsie had taken over as the editor.  I thought that if ever she wanted to step down, I would like to become the editor... but that day was surely far in the future, as she was doing a much better job than ever I could.  Then, at the 2005 Fall Conference, I heard Elsie say that she was ready to pass the newsletter on to someone else.  I wanted to do it.  This was the opportunity I had been waiting for.  But again, doubt rose up.  I was too young.  I had one year left at university.  I didn't know enough about editing.  Surely someone else...

A few conferences later...

Timidly, I walked up to Elsie and told her I was interested in doing FellowScript.  Over the next year, she became a mentor to me as she passed on the computer program I needed, all the templates and files she'd designed, the photos and graphics she'd collected.  She even spent an afternoon at my place, walking me through layout.  Slowly, I learned—from her and from my own trial and error.  Each issue that came together filled me with excitement.  Here was another newsletter packed with information and inspiration for writers.  Hopefully it would encourage them as it had encouraged me.

After I graduated university, the question came... where would I work?  I knew what I wanted to do.  I wanted to be an editor.  The problem was that finding such a job was hard to do.  There just aren't a lot of editor jobs around (especially since I didn't want to be the sports editor for the local paper).  I took a summer job with the professor who'd like my article in the university student paper and continued to job hunt.  At the end of the summer, a job came up with Alberta Education.  I applied and interviewed and edited their sample piece of writing.  And I got the job: a real job as a real editor, thanks in a huge part, I'm sure, to my experience with The Blue & White and with FellowScript.

Looking back on the last ten years of my involvement with Inscribe, I want to express my gratitude to this wonderful organization of writers who have encouraged and mentored me over the years.  From speakers at Fall Conference to articles in FellowScript to mentors like Cynthia Post and Elsie Montgomery, I've learned so much about writing and editing.  I can say without hesitation that I would not be the writer and editor that I am today without Inscribe.  I know that I have a lot to learn still as a writer, but I also want to help those who are just starting out, as I was once helped by other Inscribers.

This (rather long!) post has been my contribution to the ICWF Blog Tour.  Leave comments on the blog posts to be entered in our GRAND PRIZE DRAW: an Inscribe book bag with a free annual membership and a copy of Inscribed: 30 Years of Inspiring Writing.  The more blogs you comment on, the more entries you'll get in the draw—e.g., if you comment on 10 blogs, you'll get 10 entries in the draw (but one comment per blog, please).  Contest is open only to non-Inscribe-members (members are free to comment on blogs but will not be entered in the draw).

Magical Moments

It was one of those moments when I wished for my camera, even though I knew the camera would never capture the moment.  Sunshine ran ahead of me, her soft brown hair—still a bit wavy from the braids she'd worn a couple days earlier—bouncing on her shoulders.  Her laugh floats back to me as my husband pretends to run beside her.

They disappear between some trees and I look down at Lily, whose tiny hands are wrapped around the basket under the stroller.  Pushing the stroller gives her some added confidence in her walk, though she's been walking without help for the last week.  I keep a hand on the stroller, holding it back, lest it go too fast and drag her to her knees again.  "Uh oh," says she when that happens, and she gets up again and keeps pushing.

Darkness has fallen while we've walked; the street lights are turning on around the university.  A crescent moon hangs low in the western sky.  We tell Sunshine that if she hurries, we can stop and watch the fountain for a few minutes; so motivated, she runs down the path, not pausing until she reaches the steps at the edge of the fountain.  When I sit down, she comes to join me, commenting on the "black and white fountain."  The dark sky is mirrored in the black water, making the pool look deeper than two feet.

I try to soak up this moment—the sound of the rushing water, Sunshine's running commentary, the trees making dark lace against the sky, Lily testing her chubby legs while my husband and I watch to keep her away from the pool.

We could be rushing home to put the girls in bed (as they should have been two hours ago), but a few more minutes won't matter.  So we let Lily walk and Sunshine race.  We let them take turns pushing the stroller.  We stop to look at the fountain that we usually hurry past.  We're together, having fun, and that's all that matters.

This is Summer

Hot sun in the sky;

Lawn mower purring by;

Pretty-colored butterfly;

This is summer.

Days without a care;

Cool wind teasing my hair;

Flower fragrance in the air;

This is summer.

Gardens growing green;

Heat a shimmering sheen;

Bugs too tiny to be seen;

This is summer.

White clouds floating past;

Much-needed rain at last;

Weathermen miss the forecast;

This is summer.

Popsicles to freeze;

Fat yellow bumblebees;

Apples growing on the trees;

This is summer.

July Write Mama Blog Carnival

Welcome to the only summer edition of the Write Mama blog carnival!  I took June off and there will be no August carnival either, so if you want to submit to the next issue, start thinking about September.  Until then, here are some stories from other moms and writers to inspire, amuse, and encourage you this summer.

Mothering

Angela Youngblood presents A storm is coming posted at Jumping with my Fingers Crossed.

Bonnie Way presents Delivery posted at The Antigonish Review, saying, "My review of Betty Jane Hegerat's wonderful novel about an unplanned pregnancy is now online."

Rachel presents What NOT To Say When She Isn't Expecting posted at Getting There.

Carole Gold presents Teens Who Defy The Odds posted at Carole Gold, saying, "No, it doesn't take a village, or even two, to raise a responsible and compassionate child.  Here's how and why."

Bonnie Way presents How to Transition from Working Woman to Stay-at-Home Mom posted at The Untrained Housewife, saying, "Here's a few tips that helped me make the transition from work to home when I went on maternity leave."

Rachel Barenblat presents A Passover letter to my son posted at Velveteen Rabbi.
 

Writing

Charles Chua C K presents 10 Positive Words to Motivate You (Part 2) posted at All About Living with Life.

heartland frugalista presents Do it yourself MFA: Joining A Writer's Group posted at Heartland Living on a Budget

Bonnie Way presents ICWF Blog Tour posted at InScribe Writers Online, saying, "Follow this exciting tour to see what some members say about Inscribe Christian Writer's Fellowship."

Pamela Jorrick presents Writing, writing, writing posted at Blah, Blah, Blog.

FLeonard presents The Top 10 Reasons Why I Took Six Years to Write My Book posted at A Fork in the Road, saying, "I write and I homeschool and sometimes it seems like there's not enough time for either. Just occasionally though you manage to get all of your ducks in a row..."

Charles Chua C K presents Be Silent Be Focused Be Productive posted at All About Living with Life.
 

Writers

Christine Wolf presents My Mom Was Married To Barack Obama posted at Christine Wolf's Blog.

That concludes this edition.  Submit your blog article to the next edition of Write Mama using the carnival submission form. Past posts can be found on the blog carnival index page.  If you enjoyed this carnival, please leave a comment!

Seven Quick Takes of Canada

Happy Canada Day!  If you live north of the 49th, do you have special plans for today?  As I thought about it, I realized that I have never once in my life attended Canada Day fireworks.  I've been to fireworks at the Canada Stampede twice.  Watched from our front window, when I was in my teens, the fireworks set off by the town ten-minutes drive away for New Year's Eve.  Listened to the neighbours set off their fireworks during "Y2K."  But never seen fireworks to celebrate this day.  (Maybe I'll change that tonight.)

Canadian flag flying in Victoria

When I was unpacking my duffel bag in a hostel in Alice Springs, Australia, a couple of Asian girls already staying in the room asked me where I was from.  When I told them, one girl's face lit up as she exclaimed, "Maple syrup!  I love maple syrup!"  I smile wryly, as it wasn't the reaction I expected.  I didn't think of maple syrup as particularly Canadian, but maybe that's just because I'm from western Canada, where we're more likely to make saskatoon syrup.

*   *   *

Speaking of Canadian things... once in a while in my life, I've had discussions with others about "what is Canadian?"  This came up again for us last Christmas, as some South Americans joined us at my in-laws for a Canadian Christmas.  We wanted to show them some Canadian things... like Tim Horton's and Roots and Canadian Tire and... and... well, some maple syrup, and moose, and hockey of course, and lots of snow.  All Imax technology is also Canadian, as we keep getting reminded when see movies there.  And Fred Penner is from Canada too.  What makes you think "Canada"?

Some of my favourite authors are Canadian: Sigmund Brouwer, L.M. Montgomery, Betty Jane Hegerat, Marcia Laycock, Bonnie Grove, Farley Mowat.  And some of my favourite books are by Canadian authors, like The Order of Good Cheer and A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider.

*   *   *

When I was staying at a hostel in Tamworth, Australia, I shared a room with several Europeans.  One young German fellow looked at the Canadian flag badges I'd sewn onto my duffel bag and commented that he couldn't do that.  It was an interesting observation.  Why is okay to be a proud Canadian, but not, say, a proud German or even a proud American?

*   *   *

And while I wrote that last sentence, I noticed a few other Canadianisms... our spelling.  As an editor, that's something that I constantly notice, especially since many of the submissions I receive for FellowScript come from Americans.  We like adding a "u" to certain words, like neighbour and favour and humour.  We might check that the right cheque arrived in the mail.  We write okay, instead of OK.  And of course when I use the computer, different programs have different spellcheckers which may or may not notice Canadian or American spellings.

Sunshine helped paint the Canada Day monster mural

One lady who worked with my dad moved to Arizona for health reasons.  When she was back in Canada visiting us, she'd have us holding our sides laughing at her stories about questions she got asked about Canada.  For example, someone once asked her, "Have you ever visited the island of Alaska?"  Yet Canada often challenges my expectations as well.  For example, Saskatchewan is renowned for being flat... but the part that I've visited wasn't terribly different from the rolling hills of central Alberta where I grew up.  My picture of Vancouver Island was based mostly on urban Victoria... yet now I've seen remote, mountainous regions comparable to the Rockies that I hiked through in my growing up years.  This vast, beautiful, surprising land is a place I'm proud to call home.