What you’ll find here

The stories here will move between the personal and the reflective. Some posts are close to the bone—about what it actually feels like to train for a career in fire service, or to sit with the version of yourself that only shows up under pressure. Others are slower, more open-ended: questions I’m mulling over, observations I haven’t finished making sense of yet.

There’s no fixed posting schedule and no content calendar. I post when something is ready to be said.

A note on why

I’ve been a long-time believer in journaling and self-documentation. It’s thanks to my childhood journals I was able to review and recall the thoughts and feelings I had at the time—even if the words didn’t directly name the feelings. I hope to reconnect with myself through writing and documenting my experiences now. While it may be true that we can’t move forward by looking back, the past we lived inhabits who we are now and informs our journey into the future.

If any of this makes you think on your own lived experiences—the choices you’re sitting with, the person you’re in the process of becoming—then it’s done more than I could have hoped for.

A bit more about me

I grew up the youngest of three in Oakville, Ontario. My dad is a retired Toronto fire chief and both of my brothers are fire service members. After beginning my transition journey, I have felt compelled to rediscover hobbies and interests of my past. Right now, that’s ice hockey.

For many years, I pursued creative endeavours in film, television, and creative communications. I spent five years as a communications specialist for a group of health researchers at the University of Manitoba. During that chapter of my career, I learned a lot about lived experiences, research practices and methodologies, and how different people interact with the health system in Manitoba.

Now, I spend much of my time outside of work being as active as possible. As of this writing, I am training for my first-ever half-marathon. I’m learning about and practising functional fitness, I play hockey, and I try to give my dogs a happy, healthy, and active life.