wide open spaces – Seclusion 101 with AnneMarie

**Saskatchewan Legislative Building – Wascana Park, Regina, SK.**

Today is ‘Saskatchewan Day’. It is a stat holiday for those who still work – and get stat holidays. (sorry Dear, not you🥺)

There is so much to be grateful for, for anyone fortunate enough to live in any province in Canada. Saskatchewan has its own special benefits. We have reasonably affordable single family housing, stable employment, short commute times, plus other benefits too numerous to mention.

This year, I am feeling particularly grateful for one of Saskatchewan’s most obvious benefits – our wide open spaces! From virtually any point in Saskatchewan we can see as far as we can see. In northern Saskatchewan we do have solid forests but they are broken up by many vast open lakes. In the heart of our cities, we have a few congested blocks but we can always look up! Mostly, our province is flat, free, and clear.

It seems strange for me to feel so grateful for such a thing as open space. People who ever knew me would find it quite bizarre.

I have never really been a ‘people person’. I find a lot of people to be demanding, overbearing, aggressive, or just a bit annoying. I find crowds of people to be emotionally overwhelming. (I don’t do parades or crowded stadiums well 😳). I have just always been more comfortable in my own space. As life has gone on, I have had to deal with more and more people – my schooling, my children’s schooling, my daughter’s children’s schooling and eventually a more and more demanding career. It got really difficult to avoid people.

I was constantly backing myself into smaller and smaller spaces to squeeze people out. Eventually, I found myself trapped behind my corner desk all day, and stuck in our little house every night. (Our yard was not even a reprieve as we went through a period of seriously sketchy neighbours. 🙄) With this ever shrinking life of mine and multiple respiratory issues, I felt like I was suffocating.

Then, I retired! (And the pandemic happened). I was free to open my mind to meditation, free to venture out into neighbourhood parks, free to enjoy our big beautiful yard. Free to head off on short adventures with Dan when he is off work. Freedom! 🤗

I am finally free to come out of the stifling little spaces that I backed myself into and appreciate the wide open spaces of this beautiful province that we live in. I can never get too much of the open skies, the endless fields, the beautiful lakes and rivers, the long and winding (or relatively straight) roads. We live in a big, beautiful, amazing province! For that, I am truly grateful – on Saskatchewan – and every Day. 🤗