A year passes by very quickly. But I find that when I look back, what seems to have happened in just minutes was filled with lots of fun, adventure, challenges, loss, achievements, friendships, and family love. I hope you are able to look back at your year as one of learning and growing as well. Here’s our year in pictures and brief stories.
Starting 2024 right
While we don’t do New Year’s Resolutions, we like to look back on the previous year, see what we enjoyed the most, choose what we’d like to do more of, and try our best to make that happen. So we ended 2023 playing a ridiculous Pictionary-like game (laughed ’til I cried) with friends Luisa and David, and the started 2024 with Millie’s fave walk off leash in Pacific Spirit Park and then had my mom’s delicious traditional o-zoni (mochi in soup) for good luck and good fortune while spending time with the fam.
Friends and Fam
When I was offered a chance to do work for the Ontario regulatory college for TCM, my answer was a quick YES! because I knew it would mean I’d get to see my uni friends. We still meet regularly online (one good thing that came out of the pandemic for us, as we started it then and continue it now), but in person is SOOOOO much better! The only downside is travel uncertainties. I made it home at 2 a.m., ready to work in clinic that morning, but it was touch and go because of snow in Toronto.
Shinnenkai wasn’t quite the same without Nana or Tom, but I enjoyed the company, the dinner, and the entertainment.
Part of one of Keanu’s gifts (can’t remember if it was Christmas or his bday) was going to the bunny cafe. I secretly wonder if it wasn’t also a gift for me 😉 .
He’s 8 now. Whoa. His bday, was, of course, a big event. Access to the whole play area, 2 cakes (one is cotton candy), donuts, pizza, and a custom-made Skibidi Toilet (look it up, if you don’t know–it’s nuts) pinata. I’m thankful I can still crawl through the obstacles in the kids’ play zone, though they are much quicker than me! https://www.instagram.com/reel/C24GJdUOhzr/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Though she’s not with us in person, she’s with us in heart, so we celebrated Nana’s birthday doing one of her fave things–high tea. Another fave thing of hers would have been casino slots, but high tea was more our speed ;).
Mom’s birthday in March and Dad’s birthday in June (sorry Dad, not the most flattering pic–no one looks their best blowing out candles–but so cute!)
And, while I didn’t take pictures of most of the times I got to spend with friends, I got just a few. Here are some of my TCM sisters and brothers. Note to self: I love pictures, so I need to take more time-with-friends pictures. 🙂 Oh, and make more time to spend more time with them.
Work and extra and new work
Good thing we love what we do!
This year, in addition to the Ontario work I mentioned above, and, of course, my usual clinic work, I had a lot going on.
- My book was accepted to be published by Singing Dragon Publishing (part of Jessica Kingsley Publishers in the UK), and it comes out January 21, 2025! That’s the most exciting thing for me. You can find out more about that (if you want) here, where I’ll keep updating info: https://activetcm.com/my-book/. While it’s also for healthcare practitioners, I wrote it so that anyone can read, understand, and hopefully benefit from it. Being new to the publishing world, I’m learning A LOT!
- Over this year, I’ve been doing a lot of work for my association, ATCMA. I was VP, meeting with our provincial Minister of Health, MLAs, and government leaders because we have a ton happening in (and to–ask me about it, and I’ll fill your ear with more than you want to know!) our profession right now. I then stepped off the board so that I could do contract work for the ATCMA to prep them for the future. And, as of the start of this month, I started as their Executive Director. It’s funny because I had chosen to be self-employed as a non-conventional (I won’t say “alternative” or “complementary” because we should be mainstream and we aren’t a side dish or condiment) healthcare provider, thinking I’d be avoiding being on my computer a bunch, attending meetings, politics, and all the office-like stuff. But here I am choosing that because in order to help my profession be able to practice to the best of our abilities, all the regulatory documents, politics, connections, and communication really do matter.
- I continue to do some work for my regulatory college, some of which has involved flying to TCM school locations, though that will change somewhat with my new ATCMA work. When flying into Castlegar, the flight attendant, while we were landing, told the front rows on our little plane not to worry if we heard concerning automated plane voices coming from the cockpit because the standard flight pattern we need to take is closer to the ground than the plane is set for. Sure enough, “Terrain! Terrain! Pull up! Pull up!” came from the cockpit. It was fine though, and we’re all still here. In other news, we said goodbye to our self-regulated CTCMA, as the provincial government has had us (and every regulatory college for health professions in BC) amalgamate with other professions. The end of an era.
- Sean and I have continued to grow and build our clinic, My Rest. We love our team of practitioners, and love that others love them too, as shown by our 137 five-star reviews! We had an ad running all year on the big screen at a local movie theatre, I was a guest on a radio show to talk TCM, and we participated as usual in the car-free day on Main Street.
- I’ve been in practice for 23 years now, but I always love learning new things and meeting inspirational leaders (like Dr. Jack Taunton–who sadly passed this year).
- It’s not work, but I started volunteering for Loved at Last Dog Rescue, the same rescue that we got Millie from. The organization does amazing things, and the fosters are truly fantastic folks, so my role is small, but it’s something I can do. If you are looking for a dog, check out who they are looking to home because rescue is the best breed.
Sean has continued to stay busy with his writing business. I asked him if he wanted to write this section about him, but he said he’s at a loss for words. He spent them all on work.
The biggest news for his work is that he’s just started a job as the writer for an aromatherapy and body care company, and he’s loving it! Bonus is that he gets to try out a bunch of stuff that I like also. 🙂
Fun Stuff!
Not that work isn’t also fun some times, but we’ve been working so much that it’s nice to remember that we did do some things just for fun, including Pawther’s day, a few Canucks games (lucky recipients of gifting of these prime seats and a limo ride home on one of those outings!) and enjoying a number of local events and views in and near our city, including music from mushrooms and plants at Van Dusen Garden with Jenn, viewing fireworks from my clinic balcony, Powell Street Festival, Main Street Mural Festival, lunch at my fave Vancouver Japanese restaurant with Sonja, Hans Zimmer concert, eagle (and seal) viewing in Brackendale, Christmas tree decorating and VR fun with Keanu, and sparking the holiday feels on a set for many of Hallmark’s Christmas movies.
So, this isn’t exactly a “fun” stuff item for me, but it is for Sean. When he was in his teens, he had a motorcycle. He knows my take on them is they are too dangerous. Every one who rides a motorcycle eventually gets in an accident. Drivers often don’t see them, and motorcyclists lose that battle.
But then we went to Cambodia and Vietnam last year, and Sean re-discovered his loves of bikes when we were driven on the back of motorbikes in Vietnam. When we got back, he told me to go down to the garage with him when I got back from work one day. Shock! He had bought an electric scooter-style bike. He called it “Naughty Buffalo” (story about him from Vietnam), and he liked to boot around on it to run errands. He said, “That’s all I want” when I asked him if that’s as far as that was going to go. He also had a stand-up electric scooter, and that thing went fast! Unfortunately, he did also get hit and run off the road a few times, so not the safest form of transportation. And, cycling in Vancouver is treacherous too. So, there’s that.
You know where I’m going with this. So…one day he tells me that someone he did a writing project for offered to give him his motorcycle in lieu of paying him. The motorcycle was worth a lot more than the money owed, so Sean said yes. Of course he did. What I bothered by that? Yes. What I surprised? No.
The good thing is that he was adamant about making it as safe as possible. He sold his electric scooters and bought all the padding and gear (I had already bought him a very fancy motorcycle helmet when he had his scooter). And he signed up for a training course. One of the first things the instructor told the class is, “Dress for the slide, not the ride.” Passing the driver’s test for motorcycles in BC is apparently very challenging. Sadly, 1 in 3 people in BC DON’T actually have a license when they ride their motorcycles! They can get buy a bike and get insured without one! That’s nuts. Drumroll please. One of Sean’s bucket list items is now checked off, as he has his license. Do I love it? No. Do I accept it? Yes. He’s excited about this, and he’s being careful, and I’m normally the one doing daredevil things.
He has better gear now, but his current bike is the white, blue, and red one.
Road Trips!
Last year on our trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, we made friends with a couple from Wales. Kim and Allan came to Vancouver in June as a launching point to go on an Alaskan cruise, to visit with us, and to go to the Rockies. When they asked for a tour company I could recommend for the Rockies, I asked if they’d like us to take them. What a wonderful thing that turned out to be! This was a “bucket list” trip for Allan, especially, and though Sean and I have done this before, this trip was incredibly lucky for animal viewing–a grizzly, moose (mooses, meese–anyway, plural moose), and some brown bear cubs with mamma! Best moments include coming to a quick stop when Kim and Sean yelled “Moose!” and having Kim run out of the car without shoes to run down the road toward it (don’t worry, they were still far away)! Glamping in a dome tent. And just spending lots (and lots and lots) of driving time chatting and laughing!
We also did the Vancouver touristy things with them, and after they left, they sent us Howard, a carved rhino that Sean wanted (Kim sells beautiful and amazing things https://www.instagram.com/blackdogemporium/). Howard reminds us daily that we want to plan a trip to the UK in 2025!
When we had told my dad about our plans to do a road trip to the Rockies with Kim and Allan, he wrote out a whole itinerary. He clearly wanted to join us, but five in the car would have been too crowded, so we asked if he’d like to do a road trip in September with just the three of us.
He did. And, he planned the whole thing. And, he drove! Lucky us!
The trip was to see the internment camps, and visit the place that Nana and other family members were kept during WWII. It was powerful, emotional, and heartbreaking but also beautiful and informational. Ever since I came across documents about the internment, including letters my Gramps had written to the government, I have been wanting to write a book about it. This trip added to that desire, but I’m not yet sure the angle. There’s so much to say.
To add to that, it was a fantastic opportunity to just spend time with Dad, as we had lots of car time to have Carr time. 🙂
Day 1 was Delta (Vancouver) to Tashme to Osooyos.
Tashme is the first interment camp and the closest to the coast, though all Japanese Canadians were required to be moved at least 100 miles away from the coast, no matter if they were born in Canada or not. While it look beautiful now, and the site is now a campground, they were put in tiny tar paper houses that were crowded together and it got very cold in the winter and hot in the summer, and they were only allowed to bring a very limited number of items. Unfortunately, the museum there was closed, so I want to go back sometime.
Enroute to Osooyos, we stopped at Spotted Lake, a culturally important site for the Syilx people. It’s a beautiful and astonishing saline lake with 365 pools that show in the summer as the water of the lake mostly evaporates. Each circular spot is composed of its own unique mineral mixture, causing them to display different colours. We stayed at Spirit Ridge Resort in Osooyos–so beautiful, and I’m still craving their food.
Day 2 was Osooyos to Greenwood to Slocan (and Lemon Creek) to New Denver
Greenwood is the Canada’s smallest incorporated city with just 700 residents. It was a site for internment, with Japanese Canadians being housed in the old hotel and other structures where there was very little space in a tiny city that was pretty isolated and must have been overwhelmed by the sudden influx of people. Yet, when the Kelowna Board of Trade pushed for other cities and towns to join them in asking the BC government to prevent Japanese Canadians from being able to stay west of the Rockies after the war was over (“The Japanese are not assimilable (fortunately, so far, both races have frowned on mixed marriages…)”), Greenwood wrote a letter to the government to say they would like to allow their new residents to stay, as they found them to be “law abiding,” “splendid,” and “loyal” and part of their community. We talked to one woman at the museum there whose sister was the first Japanese Canadian baby born in that town, where her family never left and she still lives. Greenwood is also the town where “Snow Falling on Cedars” was filmed (I still haven’t seen that movie).
We visited Slocan, where we saw the church where my Nana and Gramps were married (arranged marriage), and to Lemon Creek. The empty fields you can see now were just what they looked like when she and the many others arrived. They had to live in tents until they could build their own houses. The houses were not yet all complete when winter arrived. My Nana was interned at nearby Bay Farm (basically same setup), but there’s nothing to see related to the internment there now.
In the background, you can see there is smoke from the small fires that continued to burn. They weren’t fires of concern, though, at first, we were alarmed, but they had had to evacuate the area earlier in the summer.
Day 3 was New Denver to Sandon to Nakusp.
This is a place I think everyone should know about. Nikkei Interment Memorial Centre shows what the houses (shacks, really) were like and they have a ton of letters, documents, pictures, and items related to the interment camps. It was overwhelming and intense, but so very informative. You can see the holes in the walls of the shacks, as they were made with tar paper. They would try to stuff newspapers or things into the holes, but sometimes that would freeze to the bed or furniture inside. Each shack was built for TWO families, one family on each side, sharing beds or in bunk beds, and a shared simple kitchen and living area in the middle. My Nana’s family had a house, a store, a car (or two, I’m not sure–but my Nana’s mom was the first Japanese woman to get a driver’s license in BC!), and lots of property and belongings that the Canadian government took and sold and kept the funds from. My Gramps had a house he had built on Salt Spring Island, 2 fishing boats, and other property, also all taken, and he was sent to a work camp. Before being sent by train to the BC interior, many Japanese Canadians were housed at the PNE in horse/cow stalls and livestock areas.
Here, you can also see two pictures that include my Uncle Junji, my Nana’s sister’s husband. He worked for the Japanese Canadian newspaper.
On our way into Sandon, we drove right past (and then stopped quickly) a female moose, right at roadside. By the time I got my camera out, she had moved a bit into the bush, but she was fully visible at roadside initially. On the way out, a fawn and mama deer bounced (REALLY bounded) across the road in front of us.
We stayed in a cabin in Nakusp so that we could do the hot springs. It was a good way to relax and loosen up our tight muscles from so much drive time. And then Sean and I hiked the forest path that follows the pipe feeding the pool’s hot springs to find the source.
Day 4 was Nakusp to Faquier and a ferry to Needles followed by a continued drive to Armstrong and then Kelowna.
Not too much to share here, but the short ferry ride to Needles (perfect place to visit for an acupuncturist!) was neat. We picked up curd cheese–yum!–in Armstrong, and stayed overnight in Kelowna (where I tried not to hold a grudge against the city).
Day 5 was Kelowna to Hope and then back to Delta.
The biggest excitement of the day was looking for the sites where Rambo was filmed in Hope, including the road picture you can see below, where Rambo first gets stopped by the sheriff as he enters the town.
Millie time
Craft time
It’s all crochet this year.
