They say home is where the heart is.
During the past 15 months, I have discovered this to be a genuine truth in my life. After graduating from the journalism program at SAIT Polytechnic in May of 2012 in my hometown of Calgary, I realized my comfortable life of living at home in the city that raised me for the first 20 years of my life was becoming lacklustre.
After receiving a job offer to report for the Crowsnest Pass Herald in Crowsnest Pass, a small mining community tucked in the southwest corner of Alberta, I packed my bags and left the big city.
I was excited to further my passion for writing and the Pass was a great place to do that. The breathtaking scenery encouraged me to improve on my photography skills and the friendly people who lived there advanced my communication skills in more ways than one.
However, although the scenery was beautiful and the citizens were charming, I found myself missing the city and the closeness to my family and friends that I took for granted so often while living in Calgary.
Crowsnest Pass has a population of around 5,000, a massive change from the population I was used to -- over a million. The nearest city, Lethbridge, was 90 minutes away, another thing that I found difficult to get used to.
I realized that my thirst for large public functions was rarely quenched and my drive to follow public commotion was slowing down.
In other words, I realized the Pass was too small of a community for me.
It was this past spring, soon after I celebrated my one-year anniversary in Blairmore that I decided it was time to move on, perhaps to a place closer to Calgary.
It was on my 22nd birthday when I received a call from the Innisfail Province for a phone interview for a job I had applied for several weeks prior.
After receiving a job offer, I accepted it without hesitation.
Although Innisfail is still considered a small town by Albertan standards, by my standards, it is quite similar to what I am used to and what I missed dearly while living in Crowsnest Pass.
Situated only a short drive away from the city of Red Deer and an hour away from Calgary, Innisfail looks to be the perfect blend of both worlds; small-town values near big-city accommodations.
I have already had the pleasure of meeting dozens of locals and I am thrilled to meet many more.
The scenery here is a different kind of beautiful, and the flat prairie landscape is something that I missed while living in the mountains.
I am ready and excited to chase my interests in history, entertainment and community sports in Innisfail and surrounding districts.
But that is not to say that leaving Crowsnest Pass and the people I had befriended there wasn't difficult. The Crowsnest Pass Herald helped my career in numerous ways; snagging me a spot on The Rutherford Show and landing an article I wrote in Alberta Views, to name a couple.
For that, I am so grateful.
But it was time to move on in my search of journalism growth and challenge. Innisfail is a lot closer to where my heart is.
And that is what will make it home.
