Forward and back again

So I was looking through some archival photos this weekend, as part of a bigger project I've taken on (yeesh 800 photos to edit, what did I get myself into?)... and it really hit me how much I've missed in the past 7 years.

Seven years ago I left home, left everything I knew, for university.

Left my baby sister behind to grow up without me.

Left my parents to feel empty-nested.

Left my cousins, my aunts, my uncles, my grandparents (only to lose one of them a month later).

And I never really looked back.


I spent so much of my adolescent life trying to escape PEI. Escape it's "close-mindedness," it's lack of variety, its SMALL-ness (ironic that I find myself here, eh?) And once I left I just kept going. Going to France. Going to Quebec. Going to Rankin Inlet.

And life moved on. Of course it did. The lives of those you leave behind always move on. And fast.

I can't believe it's been a YEAR AND A HALF since I've been home. A year and a half since I've seen my own father. A year since I've seen my mother.

Where did the time go? What did I do with the past year? It feels like nothing has changed, the puppy's a bit fatter (maybe I am too, haha). The snow's still here. And the rest of the world seems to have sped along at break-neck speed.

My sister has a new apartment.

My grandmother turned 80 last week.

Friends are graduating from post-grad.

And I'm here. Moving at half-speed. While everyone else is on fast forward.

Bizarre.