A Great Leap Forward

September was quite a month! I have so many things I want to tell you all about but they will have to be in brief.
I started the month up north in Tumbler Ridge. Then, after just missing the labour day long weekend, I came back. Jeff was bumming around home, loafing between jobs, so when I took the next day, a Friday, off work, we headed to Rossland B.C. for a little mountain biking. OOOHH Boy. Those are some big hills they got there! That weekend I learned something about myself that probably won't surprise anyone; when I am exhausted (from climbing the biggest hill ever), I start to cry when I hear gunshots in the valley. Hunters make me cry. I guess I had over-looked one of the benefits of riding in k-country - there are no hunters. I'm not a fan of hunters.
So, we were back on town to go to work that Monday, and I was back working up north before the week ended. 5 days later I called Jeff from my in-transit hotel room to wish him a happy birthday (I have missed all his birthdays since moving to Calgary - oops!) and good luck on his first day of his new job! That's right folks, Jeff is no longer working with bikes. He is now using his degree, in a round about way, and has a classic Albertan job - high tech in the resource extraction industry. He's working with GPS/GIS combo units in a surveying/seismic implementation; driving big trucks down small roads and talking with smelly men. Second only to ranching. Ah Alberta!
The next two weeks saw me in Calgary (5 hours between flights), Vancouver (for work), then to Victoria (2-day weekend vacation), back to Calgary, off to Lake Louise, a working weekend in Canmore and then it was October.
After this long introduction I'll get to the meat of this update - drum roll please - I turned 30. Ta da! Jeff and I had gone to see Billy Bragg in town the week before and he had some excellent new songs about how just because we are all so much older it doesn't mean we can't still be cool. It was inspirational (if anyone can find a bootlegged version of The Clash Fan Fight Song I would be very interested in having a copy). The day of my birthday, I brought a bottle of champagne to my work meeting - it was Saturday the 30th and I was turning 30, so me and my 10 co-workers ended the days business with a little bubbly. We then proceeded to drink a bunch at dinner and following with my boss buying tequila shots, and I ended up going to bed before midnight, because gosh-darned-it, now I'm old and I was tired! Haha.
That was two weekends ago and then this past weekend I was in Nebraska with my mom, her sisters, my sister, my cousins (who are sisters) and did a road trip tour of the family roots. I met my grandma's sister, her daughter, the daughters of my cousins (who are sisters) and all in all there were lots of women everywhere! Sure there were uncles and husbands and sons, but it was the sisters who made it cool. Isn't that always the case? Haha again.
In all this travelling, in all these airports (btw - I am currently in Toronto), I have been waxing philosophic about what it all means, what is life's goal, what is important about getting older, and so on and so forth (mostly to myself to the relief of my travel companions I'm sure!). Although I am a big proponent of reading a lot, not reinventing the wheel, learning from others, etc., I am fascinated that this line of thought is so individual that we all must truly go through it as our own individual. I don't know what my life will be, I don't know if you all will be proud of me for living it, but I do know that I try to do everything with my eyes open, my heart open, and my mind open. Recently I have talked with so many different people who lead such different lives than mine. I loved hearing about their lives, their mistakes and successes, their passions and frustrations, and it worked to calm me. Not knowing the master-plan makes you free to do what you like, from hog farming to world travelling. Really, if someone could tell me now exactly what my next 30 years will be like I think I would childishly plug my ears - Na na na, I can't hear you!