On the Road to Change or, Why and How We Became Red Bird and Sparrow 

Dear Readers:

It's funny how things happen, how random events change the course of your life, literally, and make or break your spirit. Meeting Sparrow changed my life and I will be forever grateful for that. But, I'm getting ahead of myself because when I met her, she wasn't yet Sparrow and I wasn't yet Red bird. At that point, neither of us knew the truth; we can fly. We were still very much grounded.

In 2005, I moved from one area of Kanata, Ontario, a quiet Suburb of Ottawa, to another and within a month I had a new neighbour move into the house attached to my own. Within no time, this new neighbour and I were fast friends. Was it fate that she turned out to be my "sister from across the pond"? How was it possible that this slim built brunette with a beautiful British accent could be like me in so many ways from our similar body shapes, our reading habits, our fears and our cares to our tendency to emotional outbursts and zealous over-parenting. Even our husbands and children, we discovered, had personalities that were so alike we would often stop mid conversation and ask, "are you sure we aren't the same person?"

What I'll never forget, though, is a nightmare period in my life when, at the young age of 6/7, my youngest daughter started to pull away from the world, started to hide in her closet, stopped eating, refused to play with other children and started to show signs of crippling fears and obsessive behaviours that kept her from sleeping and playing. I remember coming to you, Sparrow, telling you this story of the child I was "losing". We were in the backyard, as we often were, and you listened patiently. You let me spill the tale of psychologists consulted, tests performed, diagnoses made. You didn't say a word other than to encourage me and it was only at our next "backyard chat session" that you told me about "him", your youngest. You told me a story of obsessive behaviours and fears, anxieties and depression, a pulling away from the world and again, we looked at each other and said, "are you sure we aren't the same person?"

We've come to each other with many stories since then, haven't we Sparrow? Stories that are similar, yet different. We're both enraged at a school system that can't seem to support the needs of children like ours, and at psychologists and health care professionals who aren't moving the world as we want them to in order to bring help to our young.

 "I left him", I told you.

"I'm leaving it all behind and taking my life on the road", you told me.

We've become birds in flight through our conversations and that act has actually moved us away from one another. I miss you and our backyard meetings in a way that I can't express but, because I met you and have been deeply moved by your friendship, the course of my life has been changed. I'm spreading my wings, as are you, and I like to think that our friendship made that possible.  I look forward to hearing about your journey, telling you about mine and comparing notes. Here we go on another adventure together, a "blog adventure".

Love always, Red Bird