Wow. What a year. This time last year I was back in Canada for my second R&R, enjoying time with my family at home, as well as some quality time running and cycling through the mountains. It was a much needed break from the stress of work, but I was excited to be going back to Bangladesh after ringing in the New Year with my Canadian friends and family. I had anticipated going back to Bangladesh, finishing up my contract, and either extending my contract further or chasing chaos in another country. But like everything in life, things never seem to go as planned...
January 2019 brought me back across the world to my home in Cox's Bazar. I spent time catching up on everything I'd missed, enjoying the warmer weather and my fresh re-stock of the luxuries I'd brought back with me from Canada (soaps, candles, coffee, etc). I also had the opportunity to do a little bit of travelling within Bangladesh as well. A couple of us were able to go up to Chittagong for a colleague's wedding, and though I feared for my life during a good portion of it, it was well worth it to see this beautiful young woman get married. (See my blog post on it: Chittagonian Princess)
February 2019 and we left behind our beloved coffee house, delicious restaurants, and the lovely seaside of the longest beach in the world, and moved into our new house in the middle of a rice field. It was quite the ordeal to pack everything up (all of our living and working quarters) but it was actually quite fun to throw on some reggae beats and work together packing and cleaning up the place we'd called home - some of whom had been there for the last year already.
March 2019 had me leaving Bangladesh and allowed me to spend 3 wonderful weeks exploring Portugal (and a little bit of Spain) with my family. It was a difficult decision to make, but due to a specific set of circumstances, it was one that had to be done. I was also at the point of burning out, but you can read more about that here.
April 2019 saw me back in Canada, struggling to adjust to life back at home, in a new set of circumstances, and living with my parents as I waited out the remainder of my tenant's contract. It was definitely a difficult time, and as such I gave myself the whole month to adjust before committing to anything (including going back to work). I've always found that I experience reverse culture shock to a greater degree than culture shock upon entering a new country. It's an extremely difficult thing to return to life back at home when you've seen the things you've seen, done the things you've done, lived in the conditions you've lived in, and know the things you now know. I could write a whole long post on it, but suffice to say it always takes me a good few weeks to sort myself out, and that's just what I did.
May 2019 had me back at work in the operating room. Even though I'd picked up a couple of shifts back in December when I was home for Christmas, it's still a scary thing to walk into the OR after a long period of time away, not sure if you still know what you're doing. Thankfully I had my awesome General Surgery team rallying behind me, and things came back within the first week. May was also my birthday, and although I try to make it my goal to spend my birthday in a different country each year, it was actually kind of nice to spend it at home with friends and family - the first time I've done that in many years.
June 2019 and I was able to get back into racing again (the try-a-tri event at Coronation Triathlon). It had been a long time since I'd put any solid training in (sure I brought my bike to Bangladesh with me, but those once weekly training sessions on the rooftop hardly qualified as training), so it was a small miracle that I was able to toe the line (and another small miracle that I actually fit into my tri suit - the one time I was thankful for spandex) for my first race in 2 years. It was slow, and I definitely didn't score any personal bests out there, but I did it, and I crossed the line all smiles. It was also my 7th year of planning and organizing "Victory Triathlon" with my triathlon club; and despite all the work we put into it, and the sleepless night leading up to the race, it's always such a pleasure to put on for all of our athletes, and I was very thankful that I was able to be here for it this year (as last year I unfortunately had to miss it due to my work in Bangladesh).
July 2019 took my mom and I down south to relax on the beautiful white sand beaches of the Bahamas... and incidentally also found me signing up to race Ironman Canada in August 2020. I'm not big on the all-inclusive thing, but let me tell you, it was a glorious thing to have my only decision be whether or not I should lounge on the beach chair, or lay back in the crystal clear Caribbean ocean. It was also a much needed pick-me-up from the dreary, constant, down pouring of rain in Edmonton. Back at home I was also able to score a last minute entry into the Lululemon 10km. I literally signed up to run it the day before the race, but how do you say no when there are free lululemon shirts and donuts at the finish line?! Plus, I always find running races to be a great way to get out and see a city (when you travel to a race), and a great way to re-appreciate the place you already live.
August 2019 let me move back to my apartment following the completion of my tenant's year long lease. Such a wonderful feeling to be back in my own home again. Even though I'd spent the previous 10 months living out of a backpack abroad, it's still a struggle to be living out of a backpack and boxes when you're supposed to be back home.
September 2019 was a blur of unpacking, cleaning, and organizing... but I also managed to get out to Jasper as well. Always a treat to spend time in the Rocky Mountains.
And then in October 2019... 17 October 2019 at 11:16pm (to be exact) my entire world changed forever. 6 lbs 5oz never seemed so big, yet when I held my beautiful daughter in my arms, nothing has ever seemed so small.
Please allow me the absolute pleasure of introducing you to my beautiful baby girl: Mattea Avielle Warnke
This gorgeous little girl has definitely flipped my life upside down, but what a glorious change it has been. She's now 10 weeks old and weighs in at just over 10 lbs. Her smile and non-sensical ramblings melt my heart, and those wonderful newborn cuddles are something else. My previous nights of 9+ hours of sleep are now gone, replaced with 2-3 hour intervals, and the amount of free time I have has decreased to the point of near non-existence. They say it gets easier with time... and I sure hope that's true, because I have nothing but big plans to continue travelling and show this little girl the world!
This year would not have been possible without all the love and support from my family, friends, work family, and church family. Their unending and unconditional love and support has been what's held me up over these last 12 months. The amount of love, gratefulness, and thankfulness that I have for them is something that I can't even begin to express. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for loving me and being there for me through everything this past year.
And so I continue my journey, living a life where unintentional dreads are still very much a reality, yet this time there's likely going to be spit up in them.
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