Meghan J. Ward - Lights to Guide Me Home: A Journey Off the Beaten Track in Life, Love, Adventure, and Parenting

A Journey Off the Beaten Track in Life, Love, Adventure and Parenting

Meghan J. Ward

Foreword by Caroline Van Hemert

Copyright 2022 by Meghan J. Ward Foreword copyright 2022 by Caroline Van Hemert First Edition

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Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada ISBN 9781771603591 (hardcover) ISBN 9781771603607 (electronic)

Design: Lara Minja, Lime Design

Printed and bound in Canada

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For Paul, who saw an adventurous spirit in me and pulled it out.

For Doug and Meredith, who gave me both roots and wings.

Every single choice is a chance to turn towards the life you really want.

martha beck, The Way of Integrity

Meghans Journey

Off the Beaten Track

Locations

1. Banff, Canada
2. Ottawa, Canada
3. Caribbean
4. Costa Rica
5. Baffin Island, Canada
6. Nepal
7. New Zealand
8. Niue
9. French Polynesia
10. Hawaii, USA
11. Torngat Mountains, Canada
12. Rapa Nui / Easter Island
13. Ireland
14. Malta

I first met Meghan Ward in the small town of Banff, Alberta, home of golden larches, world-class ski terrain and the acclaimed Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival. I had arrived from Alaska to speak at the festival; Meghan was participating as a magazine editor. Wed only been cursorily introduced online, but I immediately felt our connective pulse as fellow writers, travellers and mothers.

We convened on the Banff Centre campus at a cafe with sweeping views of the Bow Valley. Close by, festival banners featured images of climbers traversing steep granite walls and broad glaciers. Despite our shared backgrounds organizing expeditions much like the one featured in the photos, as parents of young children, meeting for coffee presented its own version of logistical gymnastics. Meghan and her husband were juggling two daughters and a busy schedule of travel and festival activities. I was briefly alone after a year of living off-grid and travelling by sailboat with a toddler and a preschooler. Solitude had become precious, to say the least. As a result, our quick coffee date was exactly that quick. Just long enough to know we had lots more to chat about, someday.

I learned later that Meghans path to the mountains had been a circuitous one, carrying her from a largely scripted existence to one defined by its blurred edges. Transitioning from a traditional lifestyle as a pastors daughter in suburban Ontario to a freewheeling outdoor community in the Canadian Rockies, her coming of age meant repeatedly pushing against the grain. During her university days, on a whim and her fathers recommendation, she set out for a summer job in Banff National Park. She arrived to find her new home, an isolated lodge, flanked by big mountains and even bigger dreams. Chasing opportunities to push deeper and further into her new-found backyard, she faced the parallel thrill and turmoil of venturing beyond familiar boundaries, including her own. Soon after, she met Paul Zizka, budding photographer and mountain aficionado unafraid of bucking convention. Alongside a partner whose passions carried him to stunning but far-flung destinations, Meghan came to crave a lifestyle both unorthodox and wild. Together, she and Paul would travel the world, discovering how discomfort from scrubbing mould from a sleeping mat to hitchhiking in a downpour can alternately test and nurture a relationship.

Unlike Meghan, I grew up in Alaska with adventure as part of my family history. As the daughter of parents whose journeys included a dogsled-assisted climb of North Americas highest peak and ski-in cabin trips with their three young children in tow, I wasnt naive to backcountry travel. But for much of my childhood I had been a self-proclaimed bookworm, more content to read about others exploits than chase my own. Only later would I return to my roots, falling back in love with the landscapes of my home and gravitating toward a career in wildlife biology. My own marriage was forged on the side of a remote arctic river, by way of a hand-built bark canoe and a desperately hungry summer. Though the specifics of our experiences differed, Meghan and I shared a desire to follow a less-travelled route, in life, love and, ultimately, parenting. Along the way, we each discovered its not always easy to meld the elements of life we love most, especially when babies are involved.

At first glance, outdoor adventure and parenthood may not seem like obvious travel companions. But for those whove ventured into both realms, the parallels can be striking. Theres an inherent humility required to survive a winter ski trip in the Arctic, just as there is to comfort a wailing child in an airport far from home. Theres also much to be learned from our children, who teach us, in tiny increments and soul-shaking leaps, the value of being present. Through adventure and parenthood alike, a partnership demands compassion and balance, the yin and yang that Meghan depicts beautifully in her marriage to Paul.