Day 1 - The start of the Blog

Well, where to start? I have never blogged before and quite honestly have always thought that this was a little silly. Yet, here I am pounding away on the keyboard writing whatever the hell comes out of my head. So, where do I start? I suppose the best way to start is to tell you why. Why would my wife and I want to move from Canada and why have we decided on Shetland? Lerwick area to be exact. Well, I suppose that is my first mission; to try as best I can to convey what on earth would possess two Canadian born people to just uproot and move. I have a relatively secure job in that I have worked in the same company for over 22 years.

I know that this will be fun for me to read in years to come, especially when the move has actually happened and I can look back at all the weird crap that went through my, and my wife's, head all those months leading up to the actual move. Just so you know where we are now, we have made almost NO commitments to anything or anyone other than to each other. I am writing this with the certainty that we are moving and that it is just a matter of when. In all reality, this may collapse on us and we will never move. I am trudging forward with my positive mind bent toward this move happening. We already know of so very many issues that may slow or make impossible our ability to move and I also know that we will discover many, many more along the way.

I am hoping that this might also become interesting and even informative for someone else with the same passion for this type of move. For today, I leave you with this letter I wrote nearly a year ago on a very special holiday for Michelle and I. I think that it answers the question of when we fell in love with Shetland. It was just a matter for that love to change as the novelty of a picturesque community faded; but it didn't. A seed was planted that trip and it grew in out minds over the last year. Here is the note I wrote for Shetland September 25th, 2010:

For most of my life, Shetland was no more than a grouping of islands somewhere above the Scottish mainland. For a Canadian lad, even though I lived in the heart of Edinburgh for two years, Shetland was as mysterious and distant as any place on the opposite side of the world and even though my stay in Scotland was relatively brief, the beauty of its landscape, the richness of its buildings, and the warmth of its people etched a positive and lasting impression in me. On Friday, September 17^th, 2010 my fiancé, Michelle and I, took our first steps off The Hrossey, and into Lerwick. For Michelle, this trip was her first to Scotland and her expectations were reflected in the many stories and photos that I have shared with her over the years. I undersold; Scotland amazed her but Shetland took her breath away. What she and I both didn’t know was what was about to become the most amazing and unique adventure of our lives. This trip for us held two competing focuses. One, this was the first time that Michelle was going to meet my father, Jim and his wife, Becky. For me, this was nothing less than fantastic to see my father and his wife again. Second, Michelle and I had come to Shetland to get married. There was, however, one very significant difference that was simply the start of making this wedding a very fond and humorous story to tell for years; other than the partner Michelle and I were marrying, we knew nothing of the details of the wedding.

After a brief but very warm hug by all on Lerwick harbour, we were whisked off to my father’s yacht, Rona. The next week and a half consisted of many fantastic trips to places like Old Scatness, Sumburgh Head, museums, and much more. Each new day turned into a new adventure that brought us to different places and different people who were warm and so giving of their time and stories. My father and Becky were great at providing us suggestions of where we should go. Although it was in part to help us get the best out such a rich place in such a short period of time, it was also to get us to leave Lerwick so that all the mysterious preparations for a wedding that we could not even begin to imagine could continue.

Finally the big day came; hair done up, wedding cloths on, vows in pocket, and hearts pounding in our chests. Any wedding day is an exciting, nervous, and intense one. Imagine a wedding day in a place you have never been filled with people you either don’t know or have just met and the entire ceremony and reception a complete mystery! Exhilarating! Michelle and I shakily walked down Commercial Street to the pontoon where my father’s yacht was and we were walked the forty or fifty feet to a very beautifully decorated Dunter III. Inside was the captain, Alan, his wife Robbie, my father, Jim and his wife Becky, Steve and his wife Shirley, and Alastair and his wife Rosina.

The mystery trip had begun!
Alan drove the Dunter III across the Bressa Sound to Bressa and we soon found ourselves inside Orkney Man’s Cave. The setting was so unusual that for a moment, it didn’t even occur to either Michelle or I that this was the place where we would be wed. With family and friends present, we shared our vows; Alan performed a humanist wedding ceremony so very beautifully and professionally. There were some prewritten words said about the legitimacy of a wedding performed at sea by the captain of a ship, but once the plaque on his ship that stated The Captain’s Word is Law, there were a few laughs and no doubts. We listened to a very sweet speech by my father, played music in true traditional Shetland wedding form, danced, took many photos, and drank a little champagne.

We returned to Lerwick and the afternoon was given to Michelle and me as newlyweds to spend it as we wish, again asked to stay clear of the harbour. We returned to Rona at 5:00 PM where we sailed out of the pier and swung around to the Lerwick Boating Club. The sound of bagpipes floated to our ears across the water. I was delighted to look over and see a piper near the end of the pier at the Lerwick boating club. His name is Ian and he was fantastic. My father skilfully manoeuvred Rona to the end of the peer where Michelle and I climbed seven rungs of the metal ladder. No easy feat for a woman in a tight wedding dress! We were warmly greeted by many of my father’s and Becky’s friends. The mystery night unfolded and spun into a magical night of eating, drinking, dancing, fiddle playing, and laughing. By the end of the night, those who Michelle and I just met were talking and laughing with us like old friends reunited.

To give thanks to only a few people is unfair to all those we cannot name. To Alan and Robbie of Dunter III we thank you with all of our hearts. Your energy and love for this land and the seas that surround it is mirrored in the fantastic tours you do. To Steve and Shirley, we thank you for opening your hearts to two complete strangers. You have done more for us than any great friend would. To Jim McWhir and his wife Becky, we say we love you both! To do all the planning and organizing that you have done to make our wedding the most special day of our lives will always be remembered. To have such friends as those who had done so very much for Michelle and I is as much a testament to your friendship with them as Shetlanders’ hospitality. Lastly to all of Lerwick, we thank you so much for accepting two complete strangers and making them feel a part of your family.

When we do return to Canada on the 30th, we will perform the legal requirements of our marriage, but Michelle and I will always celebrate September 25^th as our anniversary and when we do, we will always think very fondly of Lerwick, Shetland, and all of the fantastic people here.

There are so many reasons that Michelle and I would love to return. With all of the surprises and twists of this holiday, I will say that one of the greatest surprises to both Michelle and I is that there is no reason greater other than how very much we are both going to miss the people and the land which are both so beautiful!

-Will