Leah McLaren & Me ~ Authors, Single Moms, and All Around Hysterical Humans

Permit me, my beautiful readers, to introduce my special guest, Leah McLaren. She is more than a guest. She is a three-time published author, award-winning journalist and a G&T-loving friend. And don't we all need one of those?

On Leah's invitation during the deep and dark time of Covid, I boarded a completely empty train and got my ass to a little rustic Welsh farmhouse that Leah had rented. I was attempting to write my very first book, and Leah was pounding out her latest, a poignant mother-daughter memoir, Where I End, and You Begin. "Don't talk to anyone", she warned me. "I mean it, Christina, no one." She was terrified that the Welsh villagers would take one listen to my Canadian accent and, with torches high and pitchforks at the ready, storm the farmhouse and evoke a tiny-town-terror of Covid justice.

Thank You Mr Wrong. I Couldn't Have Got Here Without You

When one generally thinks of a breakup, one often imagines a double-barrel, snot-bubbling ugly cry in a dark room, duvet pulled over head, empty ice cream containers littering the floor and lying awake in the middle of the night, imaging all the painful ways he might die. Wait, is that just me? After you have stopped crying and put down the Häagen Dazs, it might be time to reclaim your life (and power).

Most of us can relate to the crushing end of a relationship we swore would last forever. The loss of something big, the mourning of something bigger, what might have been, instead of what was. That's been the trickiest bit for me, in a way. What I thought it was going to be versus what it actually was. I think they call that dating for potential.

BREAKING NEWS! MY BOOK, IN SEARCH OF MR DARCY: LESSONS LEARNT IN PURSUIT OF HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS AVAILABLE

I’m not sure if I can conjure the words to express what an unexpected, crazy journey the last few years have taken me on. My life, and in all the ways I defined it, mother, daughter, lover, boss, employer, friend, sister and Hunter’s human, were all changed, reimagined or permanently altered for good. In short, without these labels that I had dressed myself in, I had no idea who I was. None.

It’s funny when you are presented with change. At first, you resist it, much like getting that suspicious mole checked or online dating. You push hard against it and do whatever you can to make it stop or, at the very least, slow it down. Change can be terrifying. But as we know, change is the only constant in our lives. So the question is not “will this change” but rather, “what are you going to do with the changes?”

Me, I wrote a book.

The Unusual Path Of A First Time Author

It's interesting in life how many times we reinvent. Our bodies are cellular different every seven years, so science tells us. So, in essence, a brand new you. We've often had several careers, and don't get me started on the vast array of "loves of my life" I have fallen in and out of love with. I have had many, many lives, and every one of them was extraordinary, varied and ripe with lessons.

In my early twenties, I had a career in the glitzy cosmetic retail industry, and then I spent over a quarter century deep in the world of advertising and production. Hell, I even produced a feature film that opened TIFF. I moved countries and pretty much shed most of the labels that defined who I was to the world and, truthfully, to me as well. This isn't some sort of right-to-brag CV but rather an introduction to my thinking that anything is possible when no one tells you no.

A-BROAD IN LONDON

A Survival Guide To Life, Travel & Being Sensationally Single

A-BROAD IN LONDON

A Survival Guide To Life, Travel & Being Sensationally Single

A Broad in London