Introduction:

There used to be something called a “hope chest”, now replaced by many with RESP’s. But the hope still remains and carries one through the process of leaving home, finishing one’s education, and, like the proverbial tiny bird, jumping from the nest to find one’s own wings.

One always jumps with hope, but what strengthens the wings and feeds that hope is all the love one has been lucky enough to have experienced. That love may be parental or familial, or it may be from friendships or even from self.

The Chapter of Me

If my life were like a book,
it’d chronicle the path I took.

Beginning when I was just wee,
until today, as I become me.

The current chapter started with much clap and cheer,
celebrating the end of my academic years.

I had figured I’d end up in a cublicle’d job,
trudging home each day, fatigued from the slog.

Instead a virus’d wind blew wicked and strong,
deeming all the world’s activities scary and wrong.

I was forced to retreat to my childhood room,
delaying my chance to both grow and to bloom.

My parents, they love me, and I love them too,
but they always asked questions, wondering what I did do.

“Give me a break,” I would cry, I hadn’t gone far,
but there are just some times I’d crave a candy bar.

A new city beckoned for reasons unknown,
and I searched for an apartment, a home of my own.

I found it, it was perfect, it was just the right size,
I was anxious, scared, but greeted it with joyous cries.

A grand old home, crafted into smaller lots,
whose walls whispered stories with wonderful plots.

To some it may have seemed a little too small,
yet it cozied and coddled and made me feel tall.

I was out on my own and forging my way,
balancing a life of both work and of some play.

I decorated it with a splash of fun flair,
scouring thrift shops and markets, curating with care.

I bought mostly vintage, but my towels were new,
gifted by my mother, they swaddled, her love cuddled through.

I called up some friends and made them some food,
my grandfather’s records providing the groove.

As the Covid wind shifted to just a breeze,
I ventured out, exploring with ease.

With computer in hand, I’d sit in a shop,
endless cups of coffee, soon strangers stopped to talk.

They got to know me, and soon I knew them,
we were all developing a new circle of friends.

At their place, or my place, we were to and fro’,
our talk sometimes silly or of the places we’d go.

This chapter now soon does draw to its close,
my story I’ll follow, wherever it goes.

And so now I see, in this book of me,
that I can face each adventure, even trial, with glee.

I know I can do it, I’ve already done,
living a life for me, making a perfect one.

My experiences write, I invite you to look,
inside these pages of this, my special book.