DANNA HAD MOVED to Banff in October for the winter ski season and was working at a restaurant in town. Part of the reason I’d organized a job at the chiropractic office was so that we’d be able to spend New Year’s Eve together. Located in a national park in the Rocky Mountains, Banff is a dramatic setting where enormous snowcapped mountains tower over the town and living space is shared with an abundance of protected wildlife. It was great to be there with Danna, but my thoughts were with my mom.

I wondered if my dad would be there for her, go to all the appointments, take care of her and support her when she needed it, even though she’d never ask him to.

Sitting with Danna in her living room, I expressed my concern.

“Of course he’ll be there for her,” Danna assured me. “They’ve been married for, what, like thirty years?”

“Yeah, but I don’t know,” I said. “My mom needs a lot of positivity right now, and my dad can be so negative sometimes—as if the world’s against him or something.”

“Do you feel bad for not being there?” Danna asked.

“What could I do, right? Maybe, I don’t know,” I mumbled. “I just want to make sure she’s getting the support she needs.”

At the chiropractic clinic, Shawna explained her philosophy on patient care. “I like to use a holistic approach,” she said. “I’ll often incorporate different elements such as physiotherapy and acupressure, and I’ve also studied a lot of Eastern medicine, which I like to integrate into my practice too. Every client is different, so I try my best to design a treatment that works for the individual.”

I’d previously thought that chiropractic care was mainly joint manipulation and bone-cracking stuff, whereas physiotherapy was more about muscle strengthening and a softer approach to rehabilitation.

For several years I had wanted to be a physiotherapist, and I entered college with that intention. The profession generally involves working with people with active lifestyles and helping them get better through problem solving. Having been involved in sports my whole life, I thought I’d enjoy it. But in my sophomore year, all of the science requirements turned me off to the idea and I chose to major in business instead.

Each day after work, Danna would meet me at the clinic and we’d walk back to her apartment together. At the clinic on Friday, we both said goodbye to Shawna, then embarked on our final commute together.

“How was work?” she asked.

“Good,” I said. “This one girl came in on Monday who had injured her back snowboarding. Shawna treated her Wednesday and today too, and I helped her with her exercises. By today she was slowly getting better. How was your shift?”

“I need to get out of this industry,” Danna said, exhausted. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard her say that. Danna had been a server for a few years, as she worked on her degree. But she wanted to find a full-time career.

“What do you think you want to do?”

“I don’t know, maybe go back to school,” she said, not sounding convinced.

“Why don’t you come on the road with me?” I said, half joking.

“I can’t, Sean,” she said, slightly agitated. “My life is here. I just can’t take off from work all the time. I have bills to pay.” She stopped herself. “Gosh, I sound like I’m middle-aged with three children.”

Her mindset felt familiar. It was the challenge faced by many graduating students, buried under the weight of mounting student debt and the rising cost of housing. I was fortunate enough to attend school while living at my parents’ place. They were happy to have me around, and I was happy to save some money.

Danna sighed. “I don’t know, I’m kind of realizing that I can’t have it all instantly. You know? Like I need to clock my hours today for what I want to do tomorrow.”

“All the more reason you should come on the road,” I said. “Maybe try and figure out what that tomorrow looks like.”

She shot me a glare. “Not all of us are lucky enough to have a sponsor to cover our expenses, Sean.”

The next morning we said goodbye, and I hopped on a plane to Los Angeles, where I’d meet up with Ian. As much as I enjoyed spending time with Danna in the snow and mountains, I was excited for some warmer weather. I was certain that Ian and I would be the only ones in L.A. at the beach in January.