A new start.
Ten years ago today, on January 7, 2003, I arrived in Ottawa with a suitcase and my ruby iMac with the intention to find a job so that I could move my whole family here.
I had been living in the UK since September 1988, having initially gone as an undergraduate exchange student and then going back in September 1989 to start a PhD. I had never planned to stay but by 2002 I had a partner, a child, and a mortgage.
I had been unhappy with my academic job for a while. I’d been looking for other jobs. Being offered voluntary redundancy in the summer of 2002 gave me a push. In the autumn of 2002, I decided I’d like to move back to Canada, and on January 7th, here I was.
My brother had found me an apartment I could move into on February 1 (which was about when the shipment of household effects would arrive) and I had a friend I could stay with until then. I bought winter boots and a winter coat and got started.
If you don’t know where you are going – any door will do
Alice: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
Cheshire Cat: “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”
Alice: “I don’t much care where –”
Cheshire Cat “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
I spent the first few months talking to people. I’d read What Color Is Your Parachute and I arranged a lot of informational interviews. I also searched the job listings and applied for jobs.
Although I still had friends here from 15 years previously, I also worked on finding community. I joined a recreational basketball team. I volunteered with a local LGBT organization. I started knitting again and found a wonderful community of knitters online.
In May, I was offered a 9 month position at the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to start in September. I figured it would be a good transitional job, giving me more knowledge of the Canadian academic scene, experience, and connections. I took it.
I had no idea where that job might lead. All I knew was that they valued my experience and knowledge and it would offer me opportunities to broaden that experience and knowledge.
I also figured that once I was doing that job, other possibilities might come into view that were not visible from where I was in May 2003.
A lot has happened since then…
My family moved in stages over 2003. We sold the house in Birmingham and bought a house here. I got another job at SSHRC and then started my own business. We started to homeschool our daughter. We spent 3 months in Europe. We decided to move out of the city.
If you had met me at the airport 10 years ago and asked me what I would be doing in 2013, I would not have told you this. I had no idea.
But then again, if you had asked me in September 1989 what I would be doing in 10 years, I would not have told you that I’d still be living in the UK, teaching sociology at the University of Birmingham, and have a toddler.
You don’t have to figure out what you are going to do with your life. You just have to figure out what you are going to do next.
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The category and tags were updated July 14, 2015.
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