June 17

I am still on the grid. In my life plans can change, often. I am sitting at a desk in my room at the beautiful Hume hotel in downtown Nelson. It works better for me to end up in Nelson tonight, tomorrow I will land at my brothers.

I worked in Rossland today, when I stopped for lunch I knew I would be done early. Nelson seemed like the place to go, I needed a place to sit and have a Zoom class for two and a half hours. If anyone had told me four months ago that I would be on Zoom a lot of time in June I would have laughed. Now no one is laughing.

Rossland felt like a time warp, it felt nervous and afraid. People were suspicious, I felt like an outsider. I love Rossland and its quaint mountain feel, today I would have loved to sit in a restaurant and eat lunch. That was not to be.

I grabbed my laptop and walked down the main street in search of sustenance. I passed two little places, both had big bold signs, “Take Out Only.” I kept walking. I was looking, searching, hoping to find somewhere, anywhere that I could sit and eat.

I was standing in front of the Subway restaurant when a lady came out of the building next door. I smiled at her and asked if she was local, if she knew of any place open for a sit-down lunch. She pointed at the Pub two long blocks up the hill.”The Steamworks is open.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. I felt somehow skeptical.

“Oh yes, for sure, one hundred percent.”

I looked at her and then at the pub. I shrugged my shoulders, I did not want Subway. I started up the hill, I had a nagging feeling inside. When I got to the top, I opened the door; the drywall sitting on the wall just inside was a bad sign. A gentleman was standing there, he looked at me and informed me the pub would open at three. I let out a groan and walked back out.

Subway was starting to look like my best option. I trudged back down the hill and cursed myself for dragging along my laptop. I opened the door of the subway and to my dismay saw the sign “Take Out Only”.”

I groaned again and turned around. I did not want Subway, I wanted local. Rossland is a beautiful town, but it seemed to be a bit behind Kelowna in the level of opening up it is doing. I settled for a Calzone from a local coffee shop and sat on a bench out front. Ironically it was one of the first places I passed when I left my job site.

Small towns are taking a bigger hit than most. It looked like some places may never reopen. Places like Rossland depend on tourists for income to survive. Big White Closed March 16, I am sure that Red Mountain closed around then as well. This sleepy ski village probably lost a lot of income since then. Tourism is gone and now the locals hunker down suspicious of outsiders.

I finished my job and drove Highway 3 to Nelson. I attended my class on time and relaxed, we connected and helped with feedback and guidance.

My meeting over I went for a walk outside and saw the sky had turned the color of blood. A deep red and orange lit the clouds above Kootenay Lake. I wanted a better view so I climbed four stories of stairs to the top of a parkade. I was in such concern about getting the perfect picture I was too late for the shot. It was an inspiring view, but the real reds and glow on the clouds were already fading away.

Sunsets are like that, life can be that way too. Sometimes we need to make the best of the moment we’re in instead of searching for the perfect moment. The perfect picture only comes once in a while when we least expect it. We need to be ready to accept those moments.