About me and why I write

Me

I believed that an introduction to your blog should give readers a genuine sense of who you are and why you want to write. So here goes.

My name is Isabelle. I’m a 53‑year‑old French‑Canadian who grew up about 80 km south of Québec City, in a middle‑class family with three sisters (I’m the oldest) and one very patient dog. My parents are still alive, still together, and still in love after 55 years of marriage. My childhood was filled with outdoor adventures: hide‑and‑seek in the summer, snow forts in the winter, and Saturday mornings stretched out on the carpet watching cartoons—my favourite show was Candy.

Myself and my younger sister circa 1985. I spent all my Saturday mornings lying down on that carpet watching cartoons on the TV you see in the background.

I was never much of an athlete, except in the water. Swimming was my thing. My only teenage job was as a lifeguard and swim instructor. At 18, I left home to attend Collège Militaire Royal (CMR) Saint‑Jean, after four years as an Army Cadet sparked my interest in the military. My time at CMR was transformative: I became bilingual, performed in four plays, learned trapeze skills, took on leadership roles, and stayed fit enough to pass a physical test every four months.

I graduated in 1995 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a dream of seeing the world while making a difference. The Canadian Armed Forces made that dream real. My career took me to Australia, Central African Republic, French Polynesia, Indonesia, the Bahamas, Germany, and the United States. I served on six different bases across Canada and the U.S., each one shaping me in its own way.

In the early 2000s, I married for the first time and became a mother to two daughters: Ann‑Cédrique (2001) and Miri (2004). Motherhood was pure joy for me—diapers, dance recitals, taxi‑mom duties, all of it. So when the empty‑nest years approached, I struggled. In the months before my youngest left for university, I often closed my office door just to cry. I don’t cry about it anymore, but I still miss that chapter deeply.

When my first husband and I separated in 2020, I told my friends not to feel sad for me. I had chosen myself—my happiness, my future—over staying in a relationship that no longer brought joy. I even told them I had a feeling my next serious relationship would be with a man I already knew, someone who would unexpectedly confess his admiration for me.

I was right!

On 22 July 2021, I had lunch with a former boss who told me he believed we were a “perfect match.” I turned him down immediately… then realized there was something there. Twenty‑three months later, standing in the exact same spot where I had said no, I asked him to marry me. We married on 8 October 2023. I truly believe he is the person who will help turn my already great life into an extraordinary one. Because let’s be honest: if your relationship isn’t improving your life, you’re better off alone.

Outside of motherhood and military life, I’ve always had a wide range of passions. I love swimming, acting, thrifting, travelling, movies based on true stories, the Olympics, board games, real estate, personal finance, the sharing economy, learning Spanish, and—yes—making Excel spreadsheets. If it can be turned into a spreadsheet, I will absolutely turn it into a spreadsheet.

One of the topics I’m excited to write about is how I transformed my guilty pleasure—thrifting—into a small charitable project. I spend about five hours a week hunting for treasures in small thrift shops, reselling them online, and donating all profits to charity. I don’t do it for the money (I make less than $25 a week). I do it for the joy of the hunt, the curiosity of what sells, and the satisfaction of helping others. In 2025, I donated $950 to four different charities.

Why I Decided to Blog

The simplest answer is: I write because I love writing. I always have. In kindergarten, I wrote a song about my newborn sister; my teacher was so impressed she photocopied it for the whole class and accompanied me on piano while I sang it. In Grade 4, I wrote a Mother’s Day poem so heartfelt that my mom asked who had written it—she didn’t believe it was mine.

As a teenager and young adult, I wrote poems about love and heartbreak, using writing as therapy. I kept a diary from Grade 6 until I left for university. Writing has always been my way of processing life.

So starting a blog felt natural. The real question was: What will I write about?

On my welcome page, I say it plainly: too many people live in the land of “one day.”

I’ll go to Paris one day.  

I’ll learn guitar one day.  

I’ll learn French one day.

But life moves fast, and “one day” rarely comes.

So I decided to put my money where my mouth is. I made a plan to tackle as many of my dreams as possible while I’m still healthy and curious. And I thought: if I share not just what I do, but how I do it, maybe it will inspire others to start crossing items off their own bucket lists. And if you’re here simply because you’re nosy—well, that’s perfectly fine too.

I love quotes. Yes, I’m that person with inspirational sayings on cushions and wall art. Words matter to me. Quotes feel like tiny books—small but powerful. One of my favourites could easily be the title of this entire blog:

“I would rather live a life full of oh well than a life full of what if.”

I heard it at 18, and it has guided me ever since. When you take a leap—whether it’s expensive, scary, or uncertain—it may not turn out perfectly. You may feel disappointed afterward. “But you will never find yourself saying, ‘What if I had done it?’ or drowning in the regret of never having tried.”

Why I Write in English

Now that you know why I write, I want to explain why this blog is in English rather than French (my mother’s first question). Until the early 2000s, I wrote exclusively in French—my native language and the one that allowed me to truly feel my words. But when I moved to Ontario and began working entirely in English, my daily life shifted. My social circle became English‑speaking, my work was in English, and slowly, writing in French became harder. If you’ve ever learned French as a second language, you know how many rules it has. If you don’t write in French regularly, the grammar fades, the syntax slips, and the accents… well, let’s not talk about the accents on a keyboard.

So to my French‑speaking friends: I’m sorry this blog is in English. Call me anytime to talk about what you’re reading—we can chat in French all night long if you want.