When One Door Closes...

January 13th, 2016, a day we always want to remember. That day brought about a big change that at the time felt scary and uncertain. 

The morning started out pretty normal, taking it easy with the kids. After our baby woke from his nap, I left our 4 year old on our bed watching her favourite show while I took a shower. When I emerged from the bathroom, I was shocked to find that she was no longer alone. My husband, Brett, sat on the bed with her and by the look on his face I could tell the news was not good.

That morning he had been let go at work, for what we believe was a cost cutting measure. They paid him more than adequate severance, but it shook us to the core. We hadn't seen it coming and felt abandoned on the West Coast. 4 years prior, we had up and moved from Toronto to just outside of Vancouver for his company, leaving behind our family and friends, with a 9 month old baby. It had been rough, but his company was wonderful and we felt secure and confident in our decision to move.

When he was let go in January we realized that it was time to reassess how we were living our life, and what we wanted for our family. For close to two years, Brett had been commuting 3+ hours a day and putting in over 60 hours a week so that we could afford our big comfortable home and consumer lifestyle. Most of the time he spent with myself and the children was on weekends and the few family vacations we would plan each year. He was starting to feel as if he was missing out on our kids growing up.

While he easily could've gone out and acquired another job in his field we realized that, that was not necessarily what we wanted. We started doing some online research, followed by meeting with our realtor and investment manager and quickly realized that our options were greater than we had initially thought.

With a lot of research we confidently began to tell family and friends that we were choosing the road less travelled. Our plan was to sell our home, pack a trailer and drive from the West Coast of Canada to the East Coast to purchase a small home on a large piece of property. We no longer wanted the hustle and bustle of a busy life, but rather we desired a slower pace and more simplified life.

Walkins Wanders is our outlet to share our journey to that simple life, and our road trip adventures along the way.