Because She Wants to Go Home

I remember as a little girl, looking out my bedroom window in the nighttime, gazing into the sky at the moon, and thinking, “this is the same moon that shines over California.” I lived in the country, so I could hear the train, several miles down the country highway, whistling it’s lonely warning in the darkness. There were many times I dreamed of hopping that train in the hopes it would take me to the land of my dreams. That sweet California.

I eventually did get to California, though it wasn’t by train, and it was many years later, when as an 18 year old I got to spend a year there, on the coast in Monterey. It was quite an experience. It was the first place I ever really “loved” as a “place.” I still long to go there, but its not a deep-seated desire as it once was, and I have a lot keeping me where I am—mainly my family.

When I met Pamela, the two of us connected right away. We spoke about living in California, and I learned that Pamela had lived in Los Angeles, California for some years, developed relationships and business contacts, had the privilege of running on the beaches, feeling that same sense of freedom that I remembered from when I was there.

Pamela is a Canadian citizen, and so when her Visa came up to be renewed, she was forced to go back to Canada to wait. She has been there a good year now, and it hasn’t been an easy year for her. Not only does she need to make a change in order to get back to where her business contacts and friends are, Pamela wants to get back to the place she calls home—the place where she feels the most comfortable.

Crowd-funding sites don’t seem to work for the average person, but I don’t think Pamela is your “average” person. She’s praying God-sized prayers to get herself back home and she believes in miracles. So she set up a crowd-funding site. If you have ever been in a position to long for your “home” – you might know how Pamela feels. Here’s what Pamela writes on her crowd-funding page:

“I’ve never felt as free as I did when running on the beach and it always left me inspired. . .the Immigration Attorney I was working with said I had to return to Canada while my visa renewal was taking place (standard practice). . . It cost me a lot of money with shipping and so forth getting myself and the two cats I’d rescued from a shelter back to Canada and I did not recoup enough to move back so I decided to move within Canada and come to Vancouver thinking there would be more creative and professional opportunities. I was wrong. It’s been a hell of a year full of setbacks.

LA is the only place that’s ever felt like home to me and I want to go back, but can’t afford it on my own. It feels like my life has been at a standstill which has been deeply saddening. As much as I try to fill my mind with positive thoughts and try to build something here it’s not happening and my heart isn’t in it. I have my visa and my drive and determination and I simply need to go back.

My birthday is at the end of February and I’m sending out my prayers that I will be blessed with the help I need to make this move possible for March. It’s going to cost me much more than 5k but I don’t know if I’ll be lucky enough to raise even that, let alone more on here so I’m looking for odd jobs and selling furniture to raise money that way as well.

I believe in the power of miracles and shared goals and to anyone who helps me with this one, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. It means more than you know.”

My goal is to raise $500 for Pamela. I know she needs more than that, but this is my personal goal. I am going to contribute $100 to Pamela (some now, some later), and I’m not saying that to brag. I am telling you that in the hopes that you will see that I think this a worthy purpose. So, I need to raise the other $400.

If you have read my blog long, you know that I love editing my videos. I’ve been doing it a lot more at work, and I’ve keep learning more and more as I continue to do it. My idea is to offer my video editing in exchange for a $50 donation to Pamela. This means I am willing to edit 8 videos. These videos will be a 3 to 5 minute finished product, with basic editing. If you wish to see some of my work, here is a list of a few:

• Finding Our Way Now: a video I edited for a blogger friend. Scroll down to about the mid-mark and you will see the video I edited (I also filmed the video, but I won’t be able to do that for you unless you live in the area).
• Project Whitespace: a video about living life in color–be sure to watch the outtakes after the intro!
• Lake Shore Cryotronics: the first video I made for my place of work

If you want to partake in this, whether you are a blogger who wants a video edited, or a person who just wants a video of your family or something, please contact me at bethanyjolee at yahoo dot com. After we talk, you can donate directly to Pamela’s crowdfunding page. Also, if you don’t want a video, but still want to donate, I am pretty sure that Pamela won’t mind!

Please, if you can’t donate, but you know someone who needs a video, or someone who might be intrigued with Pamela’s story, share this post on your Facebook, Twitter or other social media sites. I would love that.