A Common Story

Hotel Lake, Pender Harbour, BC

Just came back from an awesome camping experience at Hotel Lake.  I guess you would call this a “stay-cation.”  Hotel Lake is one of many lakes in the Pender Harbour area.  I live in Sechelt, only a 50 minute drive away.  Living in Sechelt is pretty spectacular… the nature, the views… it is a bit of an oasis.  However, going to Hotel Lake to camp with my family was absolutely phenomenal.  I feel kind of lucky to have the opportunity to camp at Hotel Lake.  First of all, you need a year in advance booking.  Second, there is a seniority list.  Third, how do I get on this list and how long is the wait?  Nonetheless, our friends were unable to fulfill their 7-day reservation and we did not hesitate to take over the last 4-days of this very poshy camping experience.  What do I mean by that?  There are electrical outlets at every campsite, fresh water taps bordering each campsite, and we had lakeside property.  This is a picture of our lakeside view.  It was pretty amazing to say the least.

Before departure, my friend said, “You’ll never regret it. We’ve been coming up here for years. Your daughter will love it.”  Well, I can confirm that all three statements are true.  No regrets.  We’ll be coming up for years to come.  My kid loved it.  There were so many people at Hotel Lake.  It was like a little community.  We met our neighbours and my daughter met their kids and every other kid at the campsite ranging from 5-25 in age.  She had a great time… ping pong, swimming, volleyball… this is not to mention the campfires, hot dogs, and smores.  It was all good.  I tried to get some reading done and possibly some writing.  No such luck, but I did reunite with some familiar faces and got to know our neighbours a bit better.  Honestly, I was a bit spooked but I was meant to have these conversations.

With each person I spoke to during my brief 4 days camping in Pender Harbour, I realized that we all share a common story.  My story is not unique.  I share commonalities with other people’s experiences.  First, I bumped into Lana.  She is from Pulling Together.  We chatted a bit about camping at Hotel Lake, ourselves, and education.  We talked about my academic studies and she said, “You just have to do it and get it done.  You need that paper to make a difference in education with your career in politics.”  That resonated with me.  Next, I met Joey, a former Math 8, Math 12, and Calculus 12 student.  We briefly chatted about what’s happening in our lives and I learned that he too is attending SFU studying physics.  I inquired why he had chosen that major and he said, “Ya.  It’s kind of hard, but I like it.  If you study and work at it, it’s not as bad as it seems.”  Twang… That seemed to resonate with me too.

At the campsite, I chatted with my neighbour Linda and Dave who are both professionals and self-employed.  They love working from home, being their own boss, and taking an active part in their kids lives.  I get that.  Then I met Daniel, off for the summer to work at Hotel Lake with his wife and family.  He and his wife are teachers.  His wife works in public schools and he worked in international education.  We chatted and shared our journeys.  Loved it.  There are no absolutes and we all make decisions for the right reasons at the right time.  Finally, I met LaVerna.  This was at the very end of our camping experience at Hotel Lake.  We packed up our camp, signed up for next year, and headed off to Garden Bay for some fish & chips at LaVerne’s Grill.  I read her bio and she said her life changed 11 years ago on September 11th.  She believes it was meant to happen.  I believe her too.  BTW: the fish & chips were awesome!

I met some pretty wonderful people at Hotel Lake.  We are all interconnected.  We share the same stories.  We have common experiences.  At one point in time, I truly thought my lived experience, my pedagogical journey, was unique.  On the one hand, it is.  All of our lived experiences are unique.  On the other hand, they are not.  We have more in common with each other than we think and if we are different then we can only learn from it.