Well, This Wasn’t Exactly the Plan.

I’ve spent a good part of my life starting over.

Not all of it was my idea.

Right before I turned 18, I packed my bags and moved to Japan. I was young, curious, and had absolutely no idea how much there was to learn about the world.

Turns out, that was just the beginning.

A Life I Couldn’t Have Planned

Since then, I’ve helped plant a church, raised four children, worked in banking, built businesses, travelled to places I once only dreamed of, worked with some pretty incredible brands, and found myself in rooms I never imagined I’d enter.

I’ve also sat in hospital rooms, said goodbyes I wasn’t ready for, walked through seasons that brought me to my knees, and learned that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is begin again.

And somewhere in the middle of all that living, I became Shash.

Well, technically, I’ve been Shash for a long time. But in 2006, I gave her a little corner of the internet.

Welcome to Shasher’s Life.

Life Has a Funny Way of Surprising You.

For nearly 30 years, my husband Dave and I were deeply involved in pastoral ministry. We planted a church in Kitchener, Ontario, raised our family, and built a life surrounded by people we loved.

Along the way, I spent 17 years in the financial industry, discovered the wild world of blogging and social media before anyone really knew what an influencer was, and eventually built a digital marketing business.

One opportunity led to another.

I worked with brands like Microsoft, Dove, Disney, and PayPal. I travelled, spoke at conferences, created campaigns, and even found myself at the NASDAQ in New York City.

Little old me.

The girl who moved to Japan as a teenager, wondering what was out there.

But life wasn’t all exciting trips and unexpected opportunities. There were hard years, too. Really hard ones.

Years that changed how I saw success, family, faith, and what actually matters when everything else gets stripped away.

I’ve written about some of them here. Others I’m still finding the words for.

Then We Turned the Page.

In 2022, after 27 years together in Ontario, Dave and I moved to British Columbia, where I’d grown up.

We left behind a life we’d spent decades building.

I won’t pretend starting over in your fifties is easy. It’s exciting and unsettling and sometimes downright exhausting.

But it also has a way of reminding you that your story isn’t finished.

These days, Dave is back doing what he loves in pastoral ministry, and I’m the VP of Development at the Canada Institute of Linguistics, helping make it possible for people to train in linguistics, literacy, language development, and Bible translation.

After years of telling stories for brands, businesses, and ministries, I get to help tell stories that connect generosity with opportunities for people around the world.

Funny how the pieces of your life can come together in ways you never saw coming.

So, Who Am I When Nobody’s Asking for My Résumé?

I’m a wife, a mom of four grown kids, and a Mimi to three grandchildren who have completely rearranged my heart.

I love a house full of people, a table that needs another chair, a good adventure, conversations that go well past bedtime, and a God who has been faithful through every chapter.

I’m curious by nature. I ask a lot of questions. I have more ideas than hours in the day, and I still occasionally convince myself that I can squeeze one more thing into an already full schedule.

Dave might have something to say about that.

I love to laugh. I love deeply. I believe people matter more than projects, though I’ve certainly had seasons when I needed reminding.

And at this stage of life, I’m becoming increasingly interested in what it means to live well, not just stay busy.

And That’s Why I’m Still Here.

I started blogging in 2006, back when we shared our lives online without worrying quite so much about algorithms, personal brands, or whether every post served a particular purpose.

We just wrote.

We connected.

We told stories.

I’d like to think there’s still room for that.

So here you’ll find a little of everything: family, faith, travel, food, ridiculous adventures, hard-earned lessons, and whatever else life happens to throw my way.

Some stories will make you laugh. Others might make you think. A few may remind you that none of us has this life entirely figured out.

I certainly don’t.

But I’ve learned something along the way.

You don’t have to know how the whole story unfolds to appreciate the chapter you’re in.

I’m still learning that one.

Anyway, I’m glad you found your way here.

Pull up a chair. There’s always room for one more.

Love,

Shash 💋