Do you remember all the hemming and hawing in 2019 about whether we should build a bunkie or not? (Will break loose)

The thing of it is, we used to visit Papa on this island in the 80’s and, for years, everyone would be sleeping in tents and using the composting toilet which was housed in a garden shed, and it was great. But our kids grew comfortable in the beautiful home Papa and Guy then built here and no one wanted to go backwards. So when we sold our share in their house, which was hard enough to do, to then ask our family to sleep in tents using an outhouse again, well, it was not our first choice.

So we eventually did build the bunkie, and a lot of you helped. The chance to welcome our family with a place to sleep in relative comfort, with its own very simple bathroom, we thought, no hoped, would encourage the kids to come and see us in our new home. Friends too, with any luck. It will never be the same for us as the times we shared together at Papa’s house, but, as one son said, we will make new traditions and memories at this house. And then covid hit.

Last summer, with our beautiful new bunkie, we couldn’t have friends visit, but two of our three kids were able to figure out a way to come safely. They had their space and we had ours. We had all of our meals on the deck and we were able to make it work. If we hadn’t built the bunkie, there wouldn’t be any visit at all.

All of our family are double vaxed now and although E is going to need another booster, we are feeling fairly safe to be with our kids, their partners and our granddaughter.

One son has been staying here a month. We have tremendous internet service with a remote location supported smart hub. We actually have two of them, one in the bunkie and one in the house, which provide internet service throughout the whole property with 530 gigs of available data. He has been able to work from here, while getting a much needed break from covid restricted Vancouver.

When he leaves this week, he passes the baton to our three year old granddaughter who will fly in on her sixth float plane trip. It is only ten minutes away from her parents to us but it seemed forever away last summer when we didn’t see her for ten months. Ten months! Friggin’ Covid.

When our granddaughter leaves, the baton goes to our daughter and her partner, who arrive for a couple of weeks. They came last summer and we had such a great time with them. Presumably, they enjoyed themselves too ’cause they are coming back. I am pretty sure the reason is partly because they like us and some of it is because of the sunsets but a lot of it is because of the bunkie and the privacy it provides for an extended visit in this most relaxing of respites from city life.

I honestly don’t know where I am going with this. But, I understand from my readers that you like reading ’cause quite often I, like the Seinfeld show, tell a story about nothing, ever so insignificant and simple, yet relatable to your lives. Well, I am guessing you can all relate to how hard it has been to be apart from family and friends over the last 20 months. But tonight I am just giving thanks to our decision to build the bunkie.

Without everyone’s efforts to build the bunkie we wouldn’t have been able to see our family at all over the last two years and, honestly, I would have been miserable. I would have sold our island paradise and moved back to the city to see more of my kids and granddaughter. Paradise is one thing but without family it is just a cabin with

a good view