I am finally back in Ontario today, the province I was born (but my tag said I was manufactured in South Korea, I’m confused). My long journey across Canada is almost at an end. The first place I am going to is my sister’s apartment. She and her long time boyfriend have so hospitably agreed to host me while I go through this incredible life change. I will stay at their apartment and use it as a base of operations to visit the rest of my family and announce the big changes that are happening to me.

On the way, however, I came across the memorial to one of the greatest Canadians. No, not Wayne Gretzky, Terry Fox.

For all you non-Canadians, you might be asking “who is Terry Fox?”.

Terry Fox was a young Canadian man who excelled at sports. However, he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer who required his leg to be amputated. This didn’t break the spirit of the fine young man and he continued to play sports, like wheelchair basketball. What brought him to fame was his “Marathon of Hope”.

The Marathon of hope was Terry Fox’s attempt at raising awareness and money for cancer research. To do this he decided was going to run from one end of Canada to the other side of Canada. From Newfoundland to British Columbia, a journey of over 4,440 kilometers! He started by dipping his foot in the Atlantic Ocean by the city of St. John’s Newfoundland, and he would run every day until he could dip his foot into the Pacific Ocean in British Columbia. He hoped to raise at least one dollar from every single Canadian to go to cancer research. To make this distance he had to run the equivalent of a marathon every day. When he first started there was only a little knowledge about this courageous young man. But he never gave up, slowly but surely more and more people began to hear about this man. By the time he reached Ontario he had become a national hero.

Tragically he did not finish his race. The cancer eventually reached his lungs and he had to call his marathon short. He was taken to a hospital for treatment but he died nine months later. He made it all the way to Thunder Bay in the western side of Ontario. He may have passed on but his memory will live on forever in the hearts of many Canadians. His marathon of hope raised millions for cancer research and every years schools across Canada will have a “Terry Fox” run where participants can walk, run, or bike 5 or 10 kilometers to raise money for cancer research. He truly is one of the greatest Canadians. After paying my respects to Terry Fox I continued on my journey. I came across a small town and had a delightful soup and sandwich at a privately owned cafe. A perfect meal for a rainy cold day like that day. There was a tower near by that offered a nice view of the area.

Finally, late at night I made it to my sister’s apartment and could relax after a week on the road.

My sister and brother-in-law, Tyler, were very excited about my upcoming adventure and were enormously supportive. They agreed to receive my mail and helped me sell my car. I used the apartment as a base of operations to visit the rest of my family.

I visited my brother and his two kids in Kingston where announced the big news by showing my oldest brother the certificate of release from the military. He is an officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force so he was especially surprised. But he was in the military for nearly two decades so he understood why I personally didn’t want to stay in the military. My niece and nephew were excited because this gave them the opportunity come visit me in South East Asia.

I visited my next older brother in Toronto where we went to Tim Horton’s for coffee and talked mostly about World of Warcraft. He thought it was great that I was pursuing my dreams.

I visited the next brother and his wife and two young kids in Oshawa and they were also supportive of my decision. Travel is not a big interest of theirs so they weren’t as excited about my adventure as my other siblings but they did express how supportive they were of my decision and that was all I needed. So far all of my siblings supported my decision to move abroad.

On my next post I will visit my Brother and his family in Nova Scotia and let him know. From there I will start my big adventure. (Spolier: My entire family was supportive of my decision to move abroad).