All stories sharing the structure of the Monomyth can tie the start of the plot’s “rising action” to a critical moment, a choice, a response to the Call to Adventure. The critical moment that started my move to Canada came in November of 2020, around the time of my pod’s First Thanksgiving during the COVID-19 pandemic. My co-parent had been looking to make her next career move and was considering two options: either taking a new position located in Ottawa, Ontario with her company that would be focused on their Public Sector business there, or another opportunity that would keep us rooted in Austin for the forseeable future.
The question she asked me that night was: “Is Canada completely off the table?” It was a decision I had to make as the other half of our shared custody agreement. I knew if I didn’t take Canada off the table it was highly likely she’d take that option and we’d have to figure out what that meant. I also knew that if I did take Canada off the table, she’d either take the local opportunity and we’d all end up regretting it, or there was a (greater than zero) chance she’d decide to go to Canada anyway and I’d be back to single parenting. And the thought of single parenting with even less support than I’d had in Michigan was a sobering one indeed.
So I didn’t take Canada off the table, committing us to figuring it out, whatever that meant. The company I was working for had an office in Toronto, so getting myself up there through that path would be a big ask but not out of the question. I could probably start looking into that after the New Year, once my co-parent had decided to take the Canada job.
Maybe a week or two later, a meeting with my boss and HR popped onto my work calendar. Out of nowhere, not even a week after my boss had said I was not included in the impending round of reductions, I learned I actually was.
Now I would be on my own, if when my co-parent chose Canada, to figure out a way to get there myself, if that’s something I wanted.
Christmas and New Year’s 2020 came and went, and by mid-January, as I was beginning the transition of my job to the new guy, we were beginning to figure out how a move to Canada would work for the family. The plan was to have the kids go with her, and I would follow behind, either finding my own ticket to Canada or settling myself within a reasonable drive of Ottawa. It would be, as I modestly called it at the time, a “Job Search in Hard Mode.”
Thinking back on it now, I called it “hard mode” mostly to keep from psyching myself out. It ranked Legendary Mode at least.
One of my severance benefits was a six-month outplacement program, so I took advantage of that. (NB: I have learned since then that I really should have negotiated a better severance package, but that’s another post entirely…) I learned a lot about personal branding and how to effectively and efficiently market myself as a prospective employee. In the terms of the Monomyth, we’d call that “Supernatural Aid.”
I then got a short-term extension on my lease to get me through the summer months so I could help get the kids packed off to Canada, get a new job lined up for myself, and then conduct my move. I expected, by the end of September, I’d know where I was going.
The kids’ move with their mother and stepfather happened at the end of July. I was making outstanding progress on my job hunt, though it definitely didn’t feel like it from day to day. As August proceeded, things were looking good for a move to Rochester or Syracuse, NY and working remotely for a US company since Canada hadn’t quite come together yet.
I flew up to Ottawa at the beginning of September to see the kids off to their first few days of school in Canada, during which I also met (virtually) with my Canada-based career advisor and killed at a video interview for a remote position with a US-based cloud storage company.
Returning back to Texas, preparations for the move went into full swing. No matter what, I’d be leaving Texas, drive up to my parents’ in Virginia and stay with them an indeterminate (but hopefully short) time while I finished my job search and nailed down my next move.
I looked into using the same service that had moved me down to Texas, loading everything into a trailer and putting it in storage until I knew where it would end up. The problem there was they had indefinitely suspended cross-border moves due to the pandemic. Unfortunately, as long as there was any possibility I’d end up in Canada, they had to be off the table. However, That Orange Self Service Moving and Storage Company was still doing cross-border moves, so I threw in my lot with them.
On September 25, I packed my cat up and handed her off to local friends who had agreed to watch her for a little while until I could get her a proper destination since I didn’t want to take her with me on the drive to Virginia. I told them I’d have her out of their hair by end of October since, after a second interview with the Cloud Storage Company, I was pretty sure I’d be sealing the deal with them in the coming weeks.
The next morning, I put my mattress (one of my first purchases when I moved to Austin 6 years before) out on the curb. I knew I couldn’t pack it in the cubes since there was a chance those cubes would have to make their way cross-border and mattresses were specifically banned in that case.
(Mattresses for personal use are normally the exception to a blanket ban meant to prevent introduction of bedbugs and other invasive species, but since my stuff would end up crossing the border through a commercial LTL carrier rather than a residential mover, it was not available to me. Granted, I could have had them professionally fumigated and certified as such butYOU KNOW WHAT I CAN JUST BUY A NEW MATTRESS WHEN I GET WHEREVER.)
I checked into my hotel with my carload of personal effects and some left-over groceries and my move week officially started.
Destination: TBD