It’s been almost a year. I’m feeling introspective.
We knew the move out here was risky. Moving to a new town and getting settled is always difficult. Buying a new home usually ends up costing more than one expects. The same goes with starting a business.
We were setting ourselves up for trouble.
And trouble we’ve had...
Here in Saskatchewan Tyler and I have faced some very real fears. I can still clearly recall nights spent home alone in Dana with Tyler working miles away. Whether it was a windstorm, lightning storm, howling coyotes or neighbors brandishing chainsaws, I felt vulnerable in a way I never did living in the city. Perhaps some of those fears were imagined but it certainly didn’t help that the nearest police station and hospital were two towns away. There were no stores, no businesses at all, and I had no way of leaving. Tyler’s 100 km commute from Bruno to Saskatoon during the long harsh winter left him fearing for his life on many an occasion. Most recently we’ve faced suffocating credit card debt in the face of trying to live on a single low wage income for far longer than expected.
Today, we went to the bank, consolidated all our debt and turned our once brag-worthy initial investment of $6500 into a 10-year mortgage of $14000 (perhaps still brag-worthy to Vancouverites).
All the hard work and stress at least feels like it’s moving us forward. We’re homeowners! We’re going to be business owners! Now we can pay off all of our credit cards and we can afford to buy some inventory for the café. The mortgage will take about a week to process, then we can order some coffee beans and other goodies AND THEN we’ll be opening our doors… yes, FINALLY.
We knew the move out here was risky. Moving to a new town and getting settled is always difficult. Buying a new home usually ends up costing more than one expects. The same goes with starting a business.
We were setting ourselves up for trouble.
And trouble we’ve had...
Here in Saskatchewan Tyler and I have faced some very real fears. I can still clearly recall nights spent home alone in Dana with Tyler working miles away. Whether it was a windstorm, lightning storm, howling coyotes or neighbors brandishing chainsaws, I felt vulnerable in a way I never did living in the city. Perhaps some of those fears were imagined but it certainly didn’t help that the nearest police station and hospital were two towns away. There were no stores, no businesses at all, and I had no way of leaving. Tyler’s 100 km commute from Bruno to Saskatoon during the long harsh winter left him fearing for his life on many an occasion. Most recently we’ve faced suffocating credit card debt in the face of trying to live on a single low wage income for far longer than expected.
Today, we went to the bank, consolidated all our debt and turned our once brag-worthy initial investment of $6500 into a 10-year mortgage of $14000 (perhaps still brag-worthy to Vancouverites).
All the hard work and stress at least feels like it’s moving us forward. We’re homeowners! We’re going to be business owners! Now we can pay off all of our credit cards and we can afford to buy some inventory for the café. The mortgage will take about a week to process, then we can order some coffee beans and other goodies AND THEN we’ll be opening our doors… yes, FINALLY.
1 comment:
Definitely not the most stress-free and effortless life transformation but certainly an interesting one to tell folks about. But, hey! don't all pioneers go through some kind of hardship? Such adventures are worth telling your grandchildren about one day.
I don't mean to make 'light' of your struggles but sometimes we just have to be able see the light at the end of the tunnel, even if that light is quite dim and flickers on and off, from time to time.
Oh, I can be so inspirational sometimes...I should probably take my own advice. :D
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