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What a strange turn of events!

Today’s article is slightly different.

This is something that is a personal experience and surprisingly has brought on a great deal of emotion for me, so with that said I thought I would share …

Last July, my husband, my children and I decided to spend the summer in Canada.

Prior to this trip, we had just spent four days having an incredible time in Manchester at my nephew’s wedding. What a party!!! Great joy and much merriment was had with incredibly emotional speeches from the bestman and father of the bride.

So, it seemed logical to fly from Manchester to Toronto. Being the slightly over cautious organiser that I am, we arrived three hours ahead of our flight departure time. I made sure there was no chance of being delayed in traffic on the M6 as I was determind we were going to miss the flight!

We were the first to queue up at the check-in desk. As we waited, a long line of eighty people or more soon joined us. The desks opened and we filtered passed the first check-in clerk who scrutinized our passports and waved us through. We then lined up at the next check-in desk where we were requested to hand over our suitcases and bags.

Interestingly, as the lady looked at me, she said, ‘I’m sorry you are not allowed on this flight.’

As you can imagine. I was slightly thrown by this comment.

I responded by asking, ‘Excuse me, who isn’t allowed on the flight?’

She explained that my husband and my sons were fine to check-in and fly, but I was not.

At this point my mind started to race and think, ‘Does she think I’m some kind of criminal trying to smuggle something on board?’

The lady went on to explain that I could not board the flight because I was born in Canada and I would not be allowed in the country without a Canadian passport.

Just to get some understanding I asked, ‘So, because I was born in Canada, I can’t visit Canada?’

She replied, ‘Yes!’

It took time to get clarity over the situation but apparently, the law had changed in 2016. If you are born in Canada you need a Canadian passport to be allowed in the country. However, what makes it even more unusual is that I had travelled to Canada previously and nothing had been flagged up. Each time I had applied for a travel visa and no issues or concerns had been raised.

So, I was told I would need to go online and apply for a special authorisation to board the flight, immediately.

Diligently, I did as I was told.

After some problems with internet connection and an hour later, I had finally completed the online application. From that point, it was a waiting game.

After some time, the eighty plus passengers had all checked in and we sat alone and uncertain.

After one and a half hours, I went to the check-in clerk and explained I had not received a reply from the online authorisation when suddenly, I received this response …

I could feel my eyes fill with tears, as the realisation that my family and I would not be going on the holiday we had been looking forward to for the past six months.

I showed the check-in clerk the electronic response.

Suddenly, he mumbled something about contacting the Canadian Embassy and having an emergency number and rushed off. I stood there in disbelief, building up the courage to explain the disappointing news to my family.

All of a sudden, the check-in clerk, looking very flustered shouted, ‘You must check in now or you won’t be allowed on the flight!’

He grabbed my hand and suitcase and pushed me through check-in.

Ten minutes later, as I was about to board the plane the same gentleman approached me explaining I must have a Canadian passport, as next time they would definitely NOT let me board the flight.

It was such as strange scenario and to this day I’m not really clear what happened.

And so, once I returned home to the Channel Islands after a fabulous trip, that is exactly what I did …

I applied for a Canadian passport.

But this is not the event that I want to particularly share with you.

Today when the postman arrived, he handed me an envelope that I had to sign for.

As I opened that envelope, I pulled out a shiny new passport.

Suddenly, emotions came flooding through every part of my body.

When I was fifteen years old, I was advised it would be wise to relinquish my Canadian passport due to my circumstances. I remember feeling quite confused and not sure what I should do. At fifteen years old, it all seemed incredibly uncertain and mystifying.

Nevertheless, I did as I was advised and remember feeling quite sad. I felt like I was saying goodbye to a big part of my life, a loved one and a place where many answers could be found to questions, I had no answers for yet.

When I saw my new passport today, all those emotions came flooding back, it was as if I was fifteen years old again. The same bewilderment and uncertainty rippled through my body and an utter sense of relief, joy and a feeling like grief, all wrapped up in one emotion.

To feel such emotion over an object made of cardboard and paper surprised me.

But maybe its more to do with the representation of that object, a symbol of my life.

You see, all those questions that I did not have answers for at fifteen years old, did miraculously get answered during the course of my life. And when I describe it as miraculous, it certainly was, but that is another story for another day.

So here it is, a symbol, an object that represents the twist and turns in life.

I never dreamt in a million years that thirty-four years later, I would be holding one of these with my name on it!

What a strange turn of events!

Sometimes it takes many years for the pieces of the puzzle to come together.

When we struggle to make sense of our current situation and feel uncertain around things like looming GCSE exams, tricky relationships or jobs we need to get done. We need to take a deep breath because it will always make sense when looking back, but you can’t make sense of it, looking forwards.

Enjoy the moment and have the patience for the path to reveal itself, as you continue along the journey of life.

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