The last few weeks have been, shall we say, “a bit stressful.” On top of jockeying to the goal line some of the most significant deals in my 22 year commercial real estate career, I have been put in the position of having to fight for a role in a future deal with the person I brought in to help win an account (which is incredibly disappointing and frustrating but ‘willful blindness’ is sometimes encountered in commercial real estate because the financial stakes are so high), packed up my my house and put it up for sale, moved in with my fiance in Burlington, watched much of the last 15 years of my life get tossed in the garbage in the process (“You’re not actually thinking of bringing that are you?”), unpacked, and set up the baby’s room. During this time I was also frequently meeting online with our website designers about the store’s new online presence – and one of my best friends, my oldest sister, died. Perhaps not surprisingly, I am about to pop. Thankfully, my fiance Aimee agrees and has given me the green light to head to “Iolaire”.

Iolaire is Gaelic for “eagle’s nest” and it is also the name of my property that overlooks the Miramichi valley in central New Brunswick. It is a 2 bedroom house that sits on land that has been in my family since 1803 and is so named because bald eagles often sit in the trees in front of the house to take in the river valley. It truly is a wonderful view. I inherited this property from my father’s youngest brother – the man after whom I am proudly named – and it is the place I go to recharge my batteries. Oddly, while I was born in North Bay I have always had a greater sense of “coming home” when visiting New Brunswick. I guess it is because my family’s roots in the Miramchi Valley have been traced back to the 1790′s so this place is certainly in my DNA.

Iolaire has a wrap-around deck that overlooks the river valley and I had hoped to be sitting on it in July listening to the Miramichi River as the sun sets over the valley with a glass of single malt and a big stinky cigar but my real estate business partner had a motorcycle accident and broke both his neck and back so that trip got cancelled (have I mentioned I’m ready to pop?). Thankfully he did not damage his spinal chord and will eventually dance at his son’s and daughter’s weddings but it is finally time for me to get away.

Throughout these last few months I have felt more times than not like I was swimming upstream. The store is weathering this storm and I am excited about our immediate future because of the new website but I would be lying if I said that these last few months have been anything but a very tough time. I am very fortunate to have family, friends and a great team at WILSON’S who have helped keep me on an even keel and the occasional emails from customers and suppliers have been greatly appreciated. But it’s time to take a few days to recharge.

I can’t fully describe what it is like to fish the Miramichi. A friend of mine used to say that catching an Atlantic Salmon can’t be much different than fishing for Great Lakes Steelhead. After a few years of inviting him Gary finally joined me for 3 days of fishing at Wilson’s Camps which is now run by my cousin Keith Wilson and on his first day he got into a fish that he fought for 35 minutes that he saw only once when it surfaced to roll and spit the hook back at him… Over the shore lunch prepared by our guides Gary approached me, grabbed me by both shoulders, looked me straight in the eye, smiled and said, “I now understand…”. And we both laughed.

There is something about the Miramichi that speaks to an angler’s soul. It is perhaps in part the quiet majesty of how the river moves inexorably to the ocean. It also involves witnessing the graceful long casts of a fly fisherman as they unfold across the river. It certainly has something to do with the site of a huge hen as she breaks the surface of a pool. But it also has something to do with the people. The people in the Miramichi Valley, people like EJ Long, can feel the river in their bones. It is a respect that these people have for the river that is both a privilege to witness and a time-honoured tradition in which to participate. It is about slowing down and enjoying life.

It is time to get away for a break and casting a line on the Miramichi is going to be the perfect antidote… so I might be off-line for a few days.

With the trout season in Ontario winding down and the thermometer starting to dip we are seeing some anxious people these days but most are taking the change in season in stride because the steelhead season is ramping up nicely. Remember the haberdasher’s addage, “There’s no bad weather, just bad clothing!”

I am in North Bay with my family this weekend to celebrate the life of my sister Ferol DiBella who passed away this past Tuesday. Her death has been very difficult for all of her family and friends but the memories we have of her life will stay with us.

We have had a lot going in our lives lately with redesigning the store, wrapping up our fiscal year-end, working on our new website, selling my house in Port Credit, moving into a new home in Burlington and preparing for the birth of our first child. If I could somehow convert my stress level into electricity and sell it the the Ontario power grid I would be a gajillionairre…

All that said, as Aimee and I drove up Highway 11 we had an opportunity to view the leaves changing with the season and it made us both smile. She looked at me and said, “You’d like to be fly fishing right now wouldn’t you ?”, and smiled knowingly. Then she reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze. Life, especially at times like this, is certainly better shared…

If you have been into the store in the last few days you will have seen a pile of new peg board displays sitting near the front door. We are in the process of redesigning the store floor plan to accommodate these fixtures and we should probably mention that they will be displaying a significant new inventory of fly tying materials. We already have one of the largest selections of fly tying materials in Canada and our selection is about to get even better !

In addition, we had a conference call yesterday with the team we have hired to overhaul our website and we are very excited about what is coming down the pipe. The first stage of the site redesign was to finalize the structure and overall appearance. What Ruth and Joel have done is hopefully going to please you as much as it does us. The new main page has 3 broad sections. The first area, “What’s Happening at WILSON’S” has 4 sections: Feature Lodge, Today’s Special, Speaker’s Corner and our Blog. The second area, “The Store” is comprised of our new Ecommerce site, Destinations, Education and Guiding. Lastly, we have a new Member’s Area with an Event Calendar, Photos & Videos, Fly Fishing Maps and Hatch Charts. Also notable is a new “Fly Fishing Gift Registry”, not unlike a bridal registry, where customers can list items they would like purchased on their behalf.

All in all, there are some really cool things coming down the pipe at WILSON’S and we are hoping you like them as much as we think you will!

I am incredibly fortunate to be a member of the Wilson family for a number of reasons. Perhaps most notably, my brothers Ken and Larry and my sisters Ferol and Karin were raised by our parents Esma and Laurence who instilled in us what are often referred to as “small town” values. These values are not “small town” in any way because they are values that everyone should follow regardless of where they live. It is unfortunate that we do not find these values more often.

Our family lost our father in March 2000 and we lost our mother in August 2008. Unfortunately we took another huge blow this week. My sister Ferol had a massive heart attack on Monday evening, another heart attack Tuesday morning and passed away on Tuesday afternoon. Needless to say, we are staggered with sorrow. Just typing this makes my eyes well up again with emotion.

My sister was a wonderful person and a great friend who, like our parents, touched many people with her kindness, sense of humour and quick wit. She and her husband Giovanni (John) DiBella have been instrumental in my life in many ways, most particularly by displaying what being a good person and having a great marriage is all about. Their kindness and generosity over the years was part of the bedrock upon which our family bonds have been maintained and my brother-in-law’s loss of his wife of 40 years makes my loss of a sister that much more sad.

I am incredibly fortunate to have had nothing left unsaid with either of my parents and am thankful that the last conversation with my sister ended with us both saying, “Love you” before we hung up the phone. If there is one thing I could wish for anyone reading this, it is that you could have a sister like mine…