Location & Relocation
I came downstairs to my office this morning – old door repainted and used as desk, two north facing windows that let a cool breeze come through for most of the day, large white chair where I sit crosslegged, jasmine plant perched on top of a stack of books, dripping and scenting the room – full of a poem I had started late last night, and turned on my computer.
After typing out the few lines that still were with me, I dutifully checked my email accounts. The first one I read? A note from a reader, discussing Beyond the Blue. Now, I’ve had many letters and notes from readers before, but this one resonated with me in a new way. The writer had a connection to Dundee, similar to mine: his great-grandfather had been a mill owner at the same time that the novel takes place.
This prompted me to think about locations and relocation. How did his family wind up here, in BC? Was the story similar to my grandmother’s? How do all these threads combine and come apart to make these stories, these histories, all these memories passed down and filtered?
My grandmother, to whom the novel is dedicated, came to Canada as a war bride. She left industrial Dundee and found herself in rural Merritt – wooden walkways, still. Outhouses. Fields, and fields, and more fields. It’s often given me pause to consider how this location – and this relocation – affected her and, in turn, all the members of my family. How would our lives be different if they had stayed in Dundee? Strange, how that one decision – a step onto a boat, a plane, a train – can shape everything around it.
I replied to the reader, asking about his great-grandfather and his experiences in Dundee. I’m left to wonder how similar the stories will be, how immersed in location we all are.