One Year in Vancouver

posted at 10:41 am
on Oct. 3, 2005

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One year ago today, we crossed the border and moved to Vancouver.

I was going to make a list of all the busy things we’ve been up to these past 12 months.  But when I went to re-read it, it sounded too much like bragging.  I’m proud of what we’ve done—especially of what Susie’s accomplished—but that’s not really what this post is about.

This post is about what we think of where we are.  It’s about what we’ve learned, and how we feel about this city and the people in it, 365 days in. And I’ve got to say, this place is superb.  Vancouver is such an astoundingly open, friendly place.  Vancouver is a livable place. Vancouver is a place where businesses can grow successfully—I’ve seen the lives of everyone improve just in the time we’ve been here.

Vancouver’s a place full of readers, a place full of writers, a place full of creative, passionate people who have plans.

It’s also a place where people don’t work themselves into a rut, or a frenzy.

Vancouver is a place full of penny pinchers.  I’ve seen the most freakish acts of impractical thriftiness occur in front of my eyes.  And yet, there’s a wonderful generosity that Vancouverites have with their time, their ideas, belongings and their charity.  Vancouver is, therefore, a place of contradiction and mixing, a place of salt water and fresh water, of rain and sun, or poor and rich.

Vancouver is a place of beauty.  There is the beauty of nature: water, mountains, sky.  There is the beauty of people: Summer arrives and attractive, fit and trim Vancouverites peel off the layers of rain jackets and fleece to expose pale skin to bright sun.  And there’s a beauty of architecture.  I’m not talking about the residential Vancouver Specials that pock the city, but the glass towers, the diverse and craftsman-style homes, the lofts of Gastown, the modernity and airiness of YVR, the Lions Gate bridge, the mansions of West Van.  There’s some beautiful structures here.

This year has been a lot about the first list, the one of accomplishments, and not nearly as much about Vancouver as we’d like.  I was going to list the people we’d met and become friends with, and then got paranoid I’d leave someone important off, so I just want to say to all of you, Thanks for making this year so great.  We’re blessed to be here, and I think the next 12 months are going to be even better than the past year.

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Previous entry:
Welcome to Canada, My New TiVo!

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The Austerity Plan: Mission Accomplished