Home

Michelle has done a great job keeping this blog up to date on the transition to living in White Rock, but I haven't done my part in offering my own perspective on our new situation. For Michelle and the kids, this has been a really mixed and sometimes quite difficult change, obviously. They have the excitement of living in a new place, seeing familiar and loved relatives more often, but also a lot of unfamiliarity, stress, and at the same time some boredom as Dad leaves them to go to work each day.

For Dad, the excitement is probably even greater, coming back to live near my own family and old buddies from my college/pizza delivery days. On top of that, I don't have the difficulty of figuring out things like kilometers and Celsius...well, not much. They come back pretty quickly. I do admit to not knowing where things like the library or the grocery store are, but I do know the area a little better than a total newcomer, and it doesn't really bother me. Perhaps I got used to not knowing where to find things in Minnesota.

At any rate, I'm not experiencing the stress that Michelle is, and while I miss my Minnesotan friends a great deal, I have the reunion with old friends to balance it with; the rest of my family doesn't. I am acutely aware right now that they have given up more than I have. I remind myself that I made this change to be with Michelle nine years ago, but nine years ago isn't right now.

It's also comforting that they didn't do this for me. Moving to Canada wasn't my decision; Michelle wanted to do it just as much. The kids were on board, as much as they could be according to their ability to understand. We knew it would be tough, and my family has willingly come along. They will get through this part.

And it's certainly not all bad. All three of them have really enjoyed themselves here in various ways so far. Being out of your comfort zone is not a bad thing. It's been a change for me too, of course. But it hasn't taken long for this to feel like Home.

Is it my home? I was asked the other day, after recapping the timeline of my life. The first four years in Saskatchewan, three in Haiti as a Missionary Kid, then back to Saskatchewan for ten more years. Move to British Columbia for one year, Calgary for eight months, then four more years in BC. Follow that with nine years in Minnesota. When you total it all up, I have lived longer both in Saskatchewan and in Minnesota than I have here. So why is this home? The other two really aren't in the way this is. My family is here, sure. But, without getting into depth, I never missed Saskatchewan for a single minute after we left. I was never in contact with any of those friends again. I wasn't all that attached to anything or anyone there. We came here and I loved it. I made great friends that remained friends throughout the nine years I was in the US.

Minnesota was definitely a home. I have great friends there as well and they will continue to be great friends. For the most part, I didn't feel like an outsider or unwelcomed in any way. But Canada was always my country. I learned Fahrenheit, I became a citizen and voted, but I was still Canadian.

So I guess all this rambling is just to say, if you're wondering, I'm home now and my wife and kids are not. It's kind of a strange thing. But we are still the same family, in this together and holding on tight as we discover our new Home.