A New Beginning

So here we are. A series of posts that cover the epiphany I had during a 30 hour drive that symbolized the culmination of 30 months.

It all started with Trouble At The Canadian Border.

That led to A Road Trip To Epiphany.

Then a look into A Snapshot Of My Life In 2006.

Followed by My Wife Getting Kicked Out Of The U.S.A.

Then Getting Violated By A Canadian Doctor.

While I was Getting Out Of Dodge.

And Adjusting To Life In Vancouver.

It was 2007, and Lisa and I had marked a pivotal point in our lives. We gained clarity of our passions. Our mindsets and self-image were reforming with a stronger foundation.

Even though I still wasn’t legally able to work, I received half a dozen job offers that year. And I actually turned all of them down! Something had definitely shifted. I refused to sell-out and settle for less.

To “test” my clarity and newfound ability to create, I made a goal to make $10,000 in one month. Now I had no idea how I was going to do it. Remember, I had no job or income. But it didn’t matter. Even though I had lost a lot, the most important things had not been stripped from me, and I knew I had become stronger in almost every way. (except maybe physically – haha)

The next month, the “how” revealed itself!  I got a call to work on the hit tv show Heroes, that I had periodically worked on since the beginning of the show. That paycheck and a couple other unexpected income sources totaled almost $9000. Now I hadn’t hit my goal of $10k, but I sure wasn’t disappointed! It worked!

A couple months later I upped the ante and created the intention of making $25,000 in one month. Again, no stable work and no idea how it would happen! I still had no visa or greencard. And at the time I was working at a martial arts school for only a couple thousand a month. They’d just offered me a position to manage a new location for about $35,000 a year.

It wasn’t close to my monthly target, but since my immigration wasn’t established and I had no income, I considered the offer. After a three and a half hour meeting with the board, (which was an accomplishment in and of itself), I turned down their offer.

It was tough to do and I kind of freaked cause some stable income would be great and this was the largest martial arts franchise in all of Canada. Any sane person would’ve questioned my decision. But integrity issues within the company forced me to pass.

Sometimes life knows what’s in store for us when we don’t.

It truly pays to trust your instinct and follow your bliss. Literally seconds as I stepped out of the meeting, I got a phone call to go to Hawaii to work on Tropic Thunder! I made about $24,000 in 3 weeks!! Now I knew for sure this stuff works!

That year my income was almost $70,000, and I only worked a few days a month! It’s all about lifestyle, not money.

It was an important year for many reasons. The most significant was that my personal growth had not gone unnoticed by my parents. This earned tremendous credibility for Lisa and our marriage.

By the end of the year it was a time for more self-reflection. I had been living in Vancouver for almost 2 years yet didn’t know the city at all. And I hadn’t really made any friends.

I didn’t make much of an attempt to get into the stunt circle in Vancouver. Maybe cause I had gotten out of shape, not having a car, or a few other excuses. Well, I needed to start building roots in Vancouver.

Lisa and I explored a couple business opportunities, none of which panned out. We even had a horrible experience working with an unethical guy. It was a sign to re-evaluate and get more clear.

Having this clarity, I actually turned down a $50,000 base + commission job with a large company. Even without a work visa the company was ready to hire me on a contract basis, based on my credentials. Any sane person would’ve jumped on it. Yet, I never claimed sanity.

It was crystal clear to me that I wanted to do what I love and work with great people.

That summer I responded to an ad. There was a new martial arts school seeking instructors. Teaching wasn’t something I wanted to go back to. Yet, I wanted to explore the opportunity for business development.

When I met the young owner I was pleased to see his honest enthusiasm. We saw eye to eye on a lot of things. Although there were some definite limitations and risks, I decided to work with him. So we created the #1 martial arts school in Richmond in less than a year.

That summer my kid sister got married. The wedding date was 8-8-08. It was wonderful news, but Lisa and I felt an uneasiness wash right over us. Would my parents allow Lisa to come? Would my stepdaughter Sara even want to go? How would they treat my family? Could Lisa handle the pressure? How were we going to afford the trip?

All our concerns seemed to vanish in an instant with one occurrence that shifted an entire paradigm. My sister had a heart to heart with my dad in a conversation one evening.

It was sparked by a phone call to Chrissy when Lisa said she and the kids wanted to come the wedding, but were afraid they weren’t welcome. After all it was Chrissy’s wedding, not my parents’.

My sister was the only person that could’ve triggered this paradigm shift in my parents. The only other thing that might’ve done it was if Lisa and I had a baby.

Chrissy helped my dad see my marriage from a different point of view. If my parents truly wanted the best for me, how could they refuse the crucial emotional support needed for my marriage and family? How can they expect a happy and successful life to blossom from bitter resentment?

Early the next morning I woke from a call from my parents. They were both on the phone and I was curious as to why they’d call so early. My father expressed that he and my mom had come to accept my marriage and that they would now consider Lisa and the kids ‘as family’. He even offered to pay for the 4 of us to come down for the wedding – including all accommodations!

I don’t remember how the rest of the conversation went, except that I thanked them profusely. I did my best to keep my composure but I think I was in utter shock. I came back to bed and Lisa could tell by my face that something possibly disturbing had just happened. She looked at me in total confusion.

Then the floodgates came. Yeah, I admit it. I don’t recall the last time, if at all I had ever cried like that. It was the first, and only, time in my life that I shed tears of joy.

Lisa and I had been through a painful 4 years of emotional hardship so we could be together, and the pain was finally over.

So for the first time ever, the 4 of us made a family trip to LA. We all got to go to my sister’s wedding together, as a family!

The wedding was beautiful and there was lots of love. I couldn’t have picked a better guy for Chrissy. My relatives were very cordial and my dad made great efforts to make sure that Lisa and I were comfortable. We had time to visit parts of LA that we couldn’t do when we were actually living there.

My sister even gave me her car! The same car we drove to Canada the very first time up. The same car that has been with me throughout this entire transition. And the same car that was the reason I couldn’t get back into Canada, which is the reason I started this series of posts!

We took our time driving back to Vancouver, enjoying the beautiful coast. It was the 2^nd time we made this drive up in my sister’s SUV. This time it was the whole family going home after a milestone vacation to LA. It was a new beginning.

It was time to begin my new job at the martial arts school. It was the first time in over 10 years where I worked for someone else for more than a couple months. It was a full-time job with a salary of 1/3 what I was use to from the last several years. But I had a chance to enjoy what I was doing and get back on my feet.

Soon after, I received my permanent residency in Canada. After waiting 2 years I could now legally work, get a social insurance number, open a bank account, and get medical insurance.

Still having to find ways to supplement my income, I began to research opportunities.

Which brings us to why I had some martial arts gear shipped up from LA. Which brings us back to the beginning of this story, this series of blog posts.

So, back to Present Day…. (3/3/09)

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