One of my favourite authors, Anne Lamott, writes: “The movement of grace is what changes us, heals us and heals our world. To summon grace, say ‘Help,” and then buckle up. Grace finds you exactly where you are, but it doesn’t leave you where it found you.”

On July 8th, I took the photo above at stunning Cascade Falls here in beautiful British Columbia, my home for the past two and a half  years. July 8th marked the two-year anniversary of my Dad, Jack’s, passing and on this day I felt the need to honour him the best way I knew how, in an arm-out-the-window-crop-gawking drive south through the Fraser Valley in appreciation of my surroundings. It was a hot, dry, early summer day and the road called my name. I had Cascade Falls on my BC Bucket List and it did not disappoint. After a 40 minute drive south to Mission, a narrow road takes you up into the mountains, and after a short 10 minute hike from the park gates, the wonderful sight you see in my photo above, greets you. It actually took me a half hour to raise my camera as I stood in awe of nature’s surreal beauty. I soon found a quiet spot to sit and listen as my heart was missing my dear Dad on this tough anniversary day. I was in desperate need of some of that grace Anne Lamott writes about. I’m not sure if my heart said “help” but I did feel a wave of soul-soothing grace wash over me while I sat in the quiet sunlight. In that moment, I remembered Dad’s best gift to me, the gift of gratitude, no matter where your life has taken you. Of course, he had a comical way of referring to daily gratitude: “We are on the right side of the grass today, Pat.”

On July 8th grace did find me at Cascade Falls, and 2 short months later, it actually did leave me in a different place. I have recently learned that I have a new job in marketing with my company, Pearson Canada.  I am moving back home to Ontario where I will be closer to my family who I have sorely missed in the past three years away. I am hoping my dear readers will agree that, despite missing home and family, I took advantage of each gorgeous day I was gifted while working and adventuring out west. Looking back, I cannot believe the time passed this quickly! I can still picture Mum and Dad waving at me from the window of their tiny white house on Church Street in Forest at 6 am the morning I backed my Jeep and U-Haul trailer out of their snowy drive, heading for Alberta. From that mid-winter, cross-country odyssey to my year working on contract in Alberta through to my move to BC and struggling through the grief that followed Dad’s passing, I now know I have been on a journey that has transformed and eventually, so slowly, restored my soul. I admit that this journey has been very tough at times. I have struggled most with the knowledge that I was away from home and family right at the time my family needed me most. I have whispered the question “why?” so many times it is hard to count. And I have weeped quietly on the hardest days when grief seemed impossible to shake. But always, always, grace found me and reminded me that I am lucky to be here, “on the right side of the grass.”

Grace, you see, comes in many forms: I was fortunate to find work that stretched me and clients that inspired me; friends that loved me, even in my most un-lovable moments; family that surrounded and cherished me in my time of need; and gorgeous mountains, oceans and rain forests that sustained me.

So… this post is really about gratitude, the precursor to grace. I want to say thank you to each of you who supported me while in Alberta and BC, for keeping me company on my many adventures, and for loving me throughout. This Vagabond Photographer is grateful beyond the most basic words: thank you, thank you, thank you!