Dear Editor:

As a recent transplant from the Lower Mainland, I was not sure what I was getting myself into when my husband and I relocated to Merritt. We had the vague idea that we wanted to be someplace on the water, picturesque, loaded with wildlife, and no traffic. After we had put our house up for sale and drove out here to view the lot that we had purchased on Nicola Lake, I had a complete and total panic attack.

As I sat hyperventilating in the vehicle, I kept thinking about the things that I would be leaving behind – our grown children for one, who were in their early twenties and not in the least interested in moving with us.

I was leaving a best friend who had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer, my parents on Vancouver Island, my in laws, and the ability to whip out to the grocery store in the middle of the night if the need arose.

While I sat there sweating and trying not to vomit, my husband was the complete opposite. He had lived here 27 years before for a season, playing for the Merritt Centennials. This had been an amazing experience for him as he had lived with a wonderful family who are still living in the area.

I was still thinking about Chapters which was my second home, quick access to Costco and the Super Store. I began to realize that what I was really afraid of was my accessibility to these places, without considering whether I could actually live without them. I had never had to before.

As we turned off onto our road, I noticed an eagle platform with an osprey peeking out of it and as we drove further, there were calves born that spring bouncing around in the grass – or walking in pairs with their mothers. We saw tiny chipmunks playing in the rocks, something I had never seen before, and then I saw the marmots sunbathing on the warm rocks “Stop” I yelled at my husband who was smiling at me. I felt the purest sense of joy in those moments – something that I have experienced every single day since.

As I began to explore Merritt, I realized that we were only 20 minutes from town, 2.5 hours from the Coast and 45 minutes from Kamloops. I love that the doorman at WalMart knows me, that the beautiful library in town can order any book I want if they don’t have it in, and that I recognize people on the streets or at the grocery store that stop to chat.

I feel a strong sense of community, something that was lacking where we came from. I do not miss sitting in traffic, or waking up to the sounds of sirens and wondering if my kids are all right (now I worry from a distance), or being afraid of being outdoors at night when I let our dogs out.

Merritt has enriched our lives in countless ways – both large and small. My husband and I enjoy the simple things that life offers, like feeding our growing collection of chipmunks, or waking up in the early morning to find deer eating in our yard.

I have watched eagles swoop gracefully from the sky, plucking fish out of the water, and I have touched a new born calf. I saw a baby deer that was trying to hide behind a tiny tree while its mother foraged for food and a bear rolling around in a fresh cut field.

I have felt more alive in the last two years than I ever have in the 43 that I have been on this earth. The only thing that would make my life perfect would be to have everyone I love and miss move out here to experience these things with us.

So far, our son has moved to Kamloops, however I have not given up hope…While small town living may not be for everyone, certain aspects of it cannot be disputed – the air is fresher here, the water tastes better, and at night when I look at the sky, I am amazed by the amount of stars that I can see.

You could not pay me to move back to the city and on the days that I do have to travel there, I find that I am stressed out the moment I hit Chilliwack and the traffic starts to build up. Each time I leave, I begin to count the days until I can return. Merritt is in every sense of the word, my home.

Shelley Lanki

Merritt