I was twelve when we moved away from Inuvik and that now bright red house. I celebrated my twelfth birthday on the road, in Grand Prairie, Alberta. Both my parents’ vehicles broke down on the way – a busted water pump and a broken drive belt. We used walkie talkies to communicate since it was still a pre-cell phone era. But I can say that I love driving across Canada. Having done it many times now, it’s the best way to see this country and its varying vistas, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to road trip across Canada.

We arrived back in Ontario in April of 2002. My parents now owned the General Store (henceforth known as “the Store”) in Woodview, a tiny, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it town outside Peterborough, Ontario. The two-story house where we lived was set just behind the Store. On the main floor there was a small white kitchen, a wood-panelled living room and dining room, a full bathroom, and computer room. The second floor boasted four (also wood-panelled) bedrooms, a linen closet, and a two-piece bathroom. The basement was unfinished, featured a back door that I was convinced never closed tight (true story, I still have nightmares about this door), and was used for storage and laundry. The house was on a property that backed on to Julian Lake.

I spent my adolescent and teenage years in this house. I covered my room with horse pictures, cut from the calendars I received each year for Christmas. I rearranged my room when I got bored with the layout, which was often. We got our first dog, Mackenzie. I spent the summers biking, canoeing, and swimming and the winters going to school, spending too much time on MSN Messenger, and figure skating. I worked at the Store after school, on weekends, and during the summer. I started my own entrepreneurial venture – a fruit and vegetable stand, beside the Store, an experience I now blame for my love of Ontario-grown fruit and veg. I had my first serious relationship. And for the first time I had really good friends. Sure, I had friends in Inuvik, but we were there for less than 4 years and we left when I was 11. I was never able to keep childhood friends because we moved too frequently. Living in Woodview, finishing elementary school, and then going to highschool meant that I was able to put down roots and form real bonds of friendship.

As I passed all the major milestones, I could see the stress and strain on my parents. We were a less cohesive unit than we had been in Inuvik, and it didn’t help that my sister and I were going through our moody teenage phases. It was over dinner one night that my parents announced Dad would be taking a job in Iqaluit, Nunavut, to help alleviate some of that stress and strain. We (Mom, Sister, and I) would not be going with him. This was a real test for us. We only saw my Dad every three to four months when he’d come for a visit of about two to three weeks. But having been through what was eventually 7 years of Dad living “up north”, we now hold on tighter to those family-time moments and cherish the time spent with one another. A family dinner followed by a game of cards isn’t necessarily reserved for holidays or Sunday nights, but is spontaneous and special.

I left for university in September of 2010. It was a hard time for Mom with Dad still up north, though was no doubt a relief for my sister, who was ready to stop being called “Kelsey’s sister” at school and I can’t blame her for that. She always excelled when I wasn’t around and I’m glad she found her passion so early and has stuck to it ever since.

I moved to Waterloo, ON to start a degree at the University of Waterloo in Drama with a minor in Italian Studies, a mostly useless minor now that I think of it. I lived in 6 different places in 6 years: a campus dorm, an apartment sublet, a townhouse followed by another townhouse followed by another townhouse, and then an apartment. None of these places really encapsulated the feeling of home that I sought, no matter how I tried. I even painted two of my townhouse bedrooms Parakeet Green in an effort to make it “my own”, but the feeling never stuck.

While I found my stride academically, that feeling of “home” never really manifested until I graduated and landed in my own apartment with my then boyfriend. This was primarily because I moved every year. But I also think it was the all-too-frequent upsets with fellow roommates. Living with roommates is hard work and I did have some really great roommates. We got along 99% of the time, because it’s impossible to not get into it with people you live with sometimes, but I am grateful to still call them friends. Those bad roommate experiences just seem to stick out in my mind like a sore thumb though. My bedroom became a safe haven and I felt unwelcome in the rest of the house. I think I am ultimately not a roommate person, despite having lived with mostly strangers in recent years. My desire for peace and quiet tends to clash with my more social housemates. Basically, I have slowly become a hermit – preferring my own company and staying in to going out with others.  

Now, I loved being at university. It was the feeling of independence, of freedom, especially after I got my first car in 2014. I made my own rules and decisions, often to the detriment of my bank account, alas, but nevertheless I would not trade those experiences for anything. I really grew into my own person while at university.

I met lifelong friends, some of whom I have now been close friends with for 10 years! I became part of the UW Drama department, learning so much and working on so many wonderful productions, each holding special memories to me. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Scenes from an Execution, Macbeth, Top Girls, Richard III (R3), Upstart Festival ‘14, The Importance of Being Earnest. Where my place of residence was lacking in those homey feelings, I was always at home in the drama department green room. I miss going into that room and striking up conversations with friends. I met so many wonderful and amazing people who passed through that space, many of whom I worked with on shows and again later in my career. I will forever be grateful for those experiences and those people. I may not speak to most of you anymore, but I am following your life on social media (in a non-creepy way) and I wish only good things for you.

I graduated from the University of Waterloo in June 2015. I followed that up with stage managing the ultimate cast in a student written and produced production of Single and Sexy, a UW orientation week show for the first years. After that I began an 8-month Event Management post-graduate course at Conestoga College, which added a hospitality industry spin to my pre-existing stage and production management knowledge.

I continued to work at Payless ShoeSource, a job I held for almost 4 years, which I firmly blame for the number of shoes I still possess, and lived in a city I had grown to love.

I moved into my own apartment in August of 2015, extricating myself from a toxic townhouse environment, and built a safe space which included not only a bedroom, but a bathroom, living room, and kitchen. I really loved that apartment, it was so cozy, ideally located in Kitchener, and very reasonably priced. This apartment was unfortunately later tainted by a bad break up but when I left I knew I was moving on to bigger and better things.

I completed my Post Graduate Certificate at Conestoga in 2016, did a brief contract at Drayton Entertainment for their Marathon of Hope: A Terry Fox Story production, and then the opportunity of a lifetime arrived. I was going to travel the world with Royal Caribbean International.

To be continued…