A Day we've been waiting for

For 11 months now, Amanda and I have waited for this day. The sale of my condo is officially complete. That means that I'm no longer paying mortgage payments or strata fees for a place I'm not living in. It's a huge relief to have finally sold that place, and Amanda and I can start looking ahead toward saving up and buying a house in Grande Prairie.

It's also a relief for another reason beyond the financial burden it put on us. That condo was the last thing that kept me looking back at Tumbler Ridge. I still talk to a few of my friends from there, and that won't stop any time soon, but I'm no longer tied to the town by a piece of property. I don't have to think about the economy, local government, or housing market out there anymore. I'll still check in on the newspaper's website to see what's happening now and then, but it'll be done as a spectator, not as a participant.

So, only two months shy of five years after I returned to Tumbler Ridge, I'm officially saying farewell to it again -- but this time it was on my terms. And that has made all the difference.