Netflix Trip

"Who are we to wonder where we're going? Who am I to tell me who I am? Let's take it back and take in every moment Who am I to tell me who I am?" - AJR

**Please listen to the song at the end.

Season 1 (Theme song: "We've Only Just Begun" by The Carpenters)

The Boehm family goes on a camping trip with all 7 of them. Thom is a by-product of that camping trip. In April of 1972 Thom is born and lives in a small town in northern Michigan, with a brief year in Ontario before returning again to the same town in Michigan. The youngest of six children. They live in the type of small town where a 6-year-old boy can take his bike to school and sell seeds and cards door-to-door to his neighbours. The type of small town where you can stop at the grocery store on your way home and get a coke from your brother who works there or stop at the drug store and get a root beer float from your sister who works at the soda fountain. The type of childhood that not many kids get a chance to enjoy.

Season 2 (Theme song: "Farewell to Nova Scotia")

The family moves to a small town called Shubenacadie in rural Nova Scotia. A big change for the whole family from Michigan. Thom's brothers come and go in this season as they hitchhike here and there and all over the place, or so it seems to Thom. At times the family loses track of where they are and what they are doing. Thom gets a postcard from his brothers who are staying someplace in California that has real live unicorns. Thom attends a private school while in Nova Scotia, as the public school system said that American schools are too far behind Canadian schools. Thom secretly thinks that they wanted to hold him back because he failed their word association test and inkblot test. He does fine in the private school and enjoys the small size and personal atmosphere.

Season 3 (Theme song: "In My Dreams" by REO Speedwagon)

In this season all the children are growing up. The only ones left are Thom and his one older sister. The brothers are in Vancouver, and his oldest sister is now married with children. Thom's father accepts a call at a church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His oldest sister and her family also live there, along with many aunts and uncles. Thom falls in love for the first time, and then his father decides to move again. This time they move to Cochrane in northern Ontario. His other sister also gets married and stays in Grand Rapids. Now Thom is the only one left at home with his parents as they head back up north to Canada.

Season 4 (Theme song: "Luck In My Eyes" by K.D. Lang)

Now alone with his Mom and Dad, Thom rather enjoys life in this unique northern town. He makes some wild and diverse friends. Learns how to fish with some Cree friends of his, and spends lots of time in the country with them. In his final year of high school, he goes to Ecuador on a volunteer mission to build a dormitory for a camp there. He returns to Cochrane only to leave again to go and visit his brothers out in British Columbia. While out there, he meets the Japanese babysitter of his nephew and falls in love. He goes back home, packs his things, drops all other plans, gets married and moves to Japan a month after turning 20.

Season 5 (Theme song: "Shima Uta" by The Boom)

Thom arrives in Japan and is picked up at the bus station by his father-in-law. They drive a good 20 minutes back to his new wife's house, and the car is deathly silent. Wondering what he has done, Thom is very nervous as they arrive in silence at his in-law's house. When he gets out of the car, his father-in-law suddenly breaks into a smile and says, "Welcome to Japan!" Relief floods over him. Thom's mother-in-law has prepared a feast of sushi for the arrival of her daughter and new son-in-law. Thom, who has never eaten sushi, just swallows it all whole to avoid gagging. He experiences constipation, as a result, for the first time in his life. He gets a job teaching at an English school to mostly kindergarten kids and starts to find his footing in his new country and language. His wife resumes her career as a nurse. At the end of season 5 he loses his oldest brother, but is unable to return home for the funeral.

Season 6 (Theme song "Jidai" by Nakajima Miyuki)

A son is born. But, due to complications ends up in the hospital for 4 months after his birth. There are few close calls during that time, but in the end, all is well. The young child is sick a lot the first few years but seems to grow stronger as the years go by. In his late 20's now, Thom and his family decide to return to Canada. They had saved enough to buy a house and decide to move to Nova Scotia where Thom's parents now live. They buy a house, settle down, and Thom finds a job as a knitter in a very old textile mill in the centre of town. His wife finds work as a Personal Care Worker at a nursing home in town.

Season 7 (Theme song "Netflix Trip" by AJR)

Thom's son graduates high school and after a gap year goes to university in Newfoundland. No longer a "knitter", Thom now repairs and maintains the knitting machines at the crazy old underwear factory. His wife's father in Japan dies partway through the season, and towards the end of the season, Thom loses his father after a brief stay in the hospital. The whole family mourns the loss of the patriarch of the family, and his mother most of all feels loneliness as she lives alone for the first time in her life. At the end of the season, Thom's son leaves for Japan.

Season 8 Yet to be written. pEACEoUT thom