Oh, hi. Right. I have a blog. A blog I used to love with all my heart and post on multiple times a week and that led to my entire travel writing career and that I still rely on for a bit of ad money so that I can buy diapers. And yet… the last post I wrote was a review of 2021?! And I’m writing about a post about 2022… in June of 2023?!
So here we go. In 2022, I had a baby.
I’ve been meaning to write this year in review for three months now. And as the calendar is just about to flip over to April, I figured I should actually sit down to write it. And it’s quite fitting that I am writing this on my baby’s due date; I’m in bed, Dottie curled up beside me, as my nerves and excitement aren’t allowing me to sleep.
I suppose the title gives it all away, and, I suppose, if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you’ll have known the news for months. But yes… I am pregnant. In just a couple of months, I will be a mom. And I’m going to be a single mom.
So… whew. Where to begin?!
“We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.” I thought about this quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. as I visited the Canadian Museum for Human Rights last week. Because as we have seen time and time again throughout history, humankind has survived. We have fought for what’s right, and we have slowly made progress. We have, through adversity and war and civil rights violations and catastrophes, maintained hope. And that’s what a visit to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights is truly about: our ability to hope, to dream, and, ultimately, to triumph.
As a Manitoban, one of my greatest travel dreams has always been to see beluga whales in Churchill. While Churchill is often considered a polar bear destination – it’s often referred to as the “polar bear capital of the world” – I was always drawn to the idea of seeing belugas in the wild. And finally, earlier this month, my dream finally came true.
Whether you’re after a mystery novel, a lengthy autobiography, a young adult drama, or the latest bestseller, there’s a bookshop in Winnipeg for you. While I’ll admit that I have purchased from corporate giants like Amazon in the past, my goal going forward is to always shop from local bookstores whenever I can, either in person or online. Here are just a few of my favourite independent bookstores in Winnipeg.