We have a family place in Sechelt, just up the coast from Vancouver. You have to take a ferry to get there, and it’s only about an hour and a half from the city, yet it seems a thousand miles away. It’s a small cedar cabin, just off the beach, on about two acres of land. If you step out the front door, you’re on the deck, which overlooks the yard and some blackberry bushes, and then there’s the ocean, right there. It’s very wild, very quiet. I’ve been going since I was born, and some of my best childhood memories are from there. We grew up fishing off the coast, and I remember being in a little aluminum fishing boat when I was about 10 and seeing orcas swim by.
When I was young, we used to spend about a month at the cabin in the summers. Now, because of the way my soccer schedule is, I don’t get summers off anymore, but as we’ve gotten older, my cousins and I have spent New Year’s there and done a polar bear swim on New Year’s Day. But whenever I go, it’s the same. I walk through the door, smell the cedar and go into total vacation mode. I end up playing a lot of cards and walking along the beach. It’s a pretty mellow time. There’s no stress, no Internet, the cellphone service is terrible and the soccer ball stays on the shelf. It’s awesome.