Franglo

This was a year of insurmountable change in my personal and professional life. The challenges of this year have led to personal growth as I adapt to my new reality.

The year began with a new job that had me living away from home 2-3 nights per week in another city. I started a new French program with lessons on the Saturdays. This crazy 6 day a week schedule took its toll on my body by mid-year.

The best part about school other than learning a new language are my new friends. Primarily classes consists of new immigrants to Canada looking to fulfil the language requirement of residing in Quebec. It has been fascinating learning about everyone’s journey. It has made me appreciate being Canadian, as it is very difficult to receive citizenship. Most of my friends are making great sacrifices to ensure their kids have a better future.

Any time you start a new job, one could describe the process as intense, the learning curve of a new organization, learning the politics and trying to find your place in this new landscape. It’s hard when you are the new person in a group of people who have worked together for years. It has given me an appreciation of how hard it must be for kids to start a new school. The role that I occupy is a unique one, in that I am the only marketing person in the region; my colleagues are primarily based in Toronto, so it’s difficult to really get to know your team from afar. I am a adopted member of sales team as I work with them day to day, The challenge, I need to balance the needs and loyalties of both teams.

Through a series of crazy events, I was given the opportunity to prove my abilities in the role. About 4 months in the role our director quit because he found a new opportunity. I am really happy that he found a new opportunity but he was really quite awful to me in the last few weeks before his departure. I am sad, that through this experience I lost a dear friend. Shortly after his departure, he took one of the other managers from our team with him, another team member was promoted into another position and we had one vacancy on the team before his departure. What was supposed to be a team of 6, was functioning with 2 members. I ended up being the regional marketing manager for 5 regions. All of this craziness made for an insane couple of months, but I was able to make a name for myself with the senior leadership in the company.

My industry loves to restructure every couple of years. This always come with uncertainty if you are going to have a seat at the table when the music stops. This summer, our team went through this exercise. It’s always the worst kept secret and you just keep waiting for the day when the hammer finally drops. Luckily, because of the craziness described above, I was safe even though my position was eliminated. I was given the responsibility for all of Quebec and Ottawa, this meant I could reside in Montreal full time. In the end, this shuffling of the deck worked in my favour. In September, I was able to give up my second residence.

It was an expensive year, with households renovations. We decided to stay in the same location and modify our house to accommodate the family. After a eight week process, the basement got a makeover with the addition of another bedroom, bathroom with shower, and an area for the kids to hang out, The tween and teenage years require everyone has their own space and we needed another shower. The master bedroom got a walk in closet which is mine, I could say it was for both of us, but the reality I consumer ninety percent of the new space.

We survived a year of competition teams in both dance and cheerleading. The girls did really on their respective teams. For us It was a learning experience le that we need to also remember our relationship and take time to reconnect and not get lost in the craziness of the kids schedules. After all we need a healthy relationship in order to create a happy environment for the kids.

The renos required us to scale back the family vacation this year, so we took the kids to Upper State New York to an amusement park for three days. The location was beautiful and reminded me of home (BC), bravery was found with each child trying and liking a new ride. It was also a learning experience, future vacations for my sanity require separate living quarters and another bathroom and time in the schedule to relax. We have resolved all of this for 2020.

My parents hopped on a plane in September to come see our life in Montreal. We gave them the true Quebecoise experience of food, art, culture and family. They had the opportunity to meet the kids for the first time and also an opportunity to meet the extended family. We did our commitment ceremony on a beach, so our families had not had a chance to meet as of yet. There was no revolution, the French and English can co-existe.

My other half turned the big 50 this year. I surprised him with a trip to New York. It was a city that neither one of us had visited before, so it was a bonding experience. I may have broken him with 60 kilometres of walking over 4 days, I am sure he back will return to normal eventually. We stayed at a fantastic boutique hotel in Manhattan and we saw most of the key highlights of the city. I think we will got back and continue the adventure. More importantly we got to spend quality time together over and extended period of time.

As we enter the holiday season, it’s a time for reflection, I am going to take some time with my family over the season and set my intentions 2020.