Karen

Content note: This story includes mention of educating others about drug and alcohol abuse, rape, and murder. 

I grew up in the Maritimes. My family moved around every five, six, seven, eight years. I spent my middle school years in Boston and then moved to Montreal. In high school, I met some kids through school and through a faith group. I was really impressed with their love and their friendship, so I became a follower of Christ. Then, I was looking for something meaningful to do, and a travelling theatre group came through town. I thought, well, that would be interesting to do for six months. It ended being a full-time vocation—my expression of faith and community.

My involvement with the theatre group took me out of Canada for 35 years and I travelled with them throughout the U.S., Europe, Australia, and Southern Africa. We travelled in a van and stayed in host homes. After two years with them, I was promoted to being the team leader, involving not only acting in the roles, but also directing them. We did churches on Sundays and Wednesday nights and a lot of school work. That was a bit of a different approach: we’d deal with topics like peer pressure and drug and alcohol abuse. In elementary schools, we did friendship and cooperation. Sometimes, we would perform in prisons. I guess the ones that really tugged at my heart were in prisons. A women's prison stands out. I was playing a character whose sister had been raped and murdered, and afterward, a woman came up and asked, “Did that happen to you?” I was just playing the character, but she found it so profoundly real. I thought, wow, drama is so powerful. 

I was so shy and maybe it was God who brought me into performing, because it really helped me get out of my shell. Performing helped me become a confident person and some of the roles helped me see life differently. I wasn’t naturally a drama person. Some people lived to perform and I wasn’t like that, but it was certainly beneficial for my life. I found a lot of good people through that drama group—people who challenged me to go beyond my fears. I always encourage people to try things and take opportunities that come along.

After I left the drama group, I came to Vancouver. I wanted to come to Vancouver because of the diversity. I wanted to use my life’s work and do something meaningful with it. The Maritimes are more multicultural now, but 15 years ago, not nearly as much as Vancouver. I got involved with international students, welcoming them to Canada. I worked at SFU and Douglas College. There was a man who led the ministry and he was so influential. Hospitality was his big gift. I would just watch how he talked to international students from places like India, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. I had no connection with those cultures at all, and just watching him break down barriers between them and us was incredible. 

My current retirement living community is a fabulous place for me to be. I moved into it about five years ago, and the big thing for me is I'm single, so community is what's important in my life. I used to live with my brother and sister-in-law, which was fine, but I have so many more opportunities for relationships now which is the biggest thing. There are fitness classes and tea time, and just every day when I go for a walk, I’ll meet somebody. Over the five years, I’ve gotten to know people personally, so I’m never lonely. There’s always a possibility for engaging conversation.

I grew up in a small town in New Brunswick. Now, I have much better memories. Growing up, I had a lot of anger issues and I was very inward. I don't know why, but I had issues with my mother that I didn’t figure out until recently, so I had a lot of negative colour on my childhood memories. But now that that’s resolved and I have a lot more appreciation for her. I can see what a really good mother she was. It’s funny, isn’t it? How trouble early on can colour things for the rest of your life.

I think your generation has more challenges than we did with the internet and all, but a lot of the core challenges are the same. You’re trying to figure out the meaning of life, relationships, and a career. But the challenge of a screen in front of your face, it interferes a lot. The disconnect from nature is also a big thing, so my advice would be to try to have more eye-to-eye contact with your peers and to connect more with nature, because it helps build real relationships. You have to find out for yourself what your relationship is with the Creator and with people. You have to work it out yourself. And love is in both of those relationships. That’s what makes life meaningful.