Parting thoughts

For Heather, born and raised in Canada, she is leaving home and that is a tough thing to do but the silver lining is that our move to Australia is also a return to her adopted country.

For me, the move means I am leaving my adopted country to return to my birthplace.  While I am 'going home' I am also 'leaving home'.  I have taken some time to reflect upon what Canada means to me - it took me longer than I thought it would and got deeper than I thought it would too.  As the process went on it became all the more important to me so I started to write a few things down.  Below is a summary of my thoughts and feelings...

New adventures are exciting but in order to start the next phase in our life together means the end of a special and very significant part of my life.  It is with more than a little sadness that I have to accept that fact that tomorrow we will be leaving the Great White North.

For the last 21 years of my life since I first arrived on January 3rd 1994, I have lived and worked in Canada for all but 3 years and 8 months of that time.

During that time I have experienced several life changing moments:

• Most significantly, when in Vancouver I met, fell in love with and married Heather, a Canadian girl that grew up on the prairies but calls Vancouver home - best thing that ever happened to me;
• Learned to love the Canadian way of life.  Long summer days camping amongst the abundant green forests and fields, blue skies backing snow capped mountains, clear crisp rivers, all of the wildlife - beautiful stuff.  Even the winters, some colder and longer than others, were fun:
• A couple of Vancouver winters were a gentle introduction to Canada as the winters there don't really count at all;
• 11 winters spent in or north of Yellowknife, NWT and 3 prairie winters in Saskatoon were a true taste of the 'real deal' as far as winter living is concerned - if that sort of time served doesn't qualify you for at least 'honorary Canadian' status then I don't know what you have to do;
• The last 3 or 4 Toronto winters, while not exactly 'hard' (but don't tell that to Torontonians), were a nice way to enjoy the snow and other winter activities without being in the deep freeze for months on end.
• Spent 3 1/2  great years in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where we learned some unique things about the place:
• Roughrider Green is the dominant colour in the province:
• A CFL football team can still lose a game after the time clock has run out;
• Perogies and an 'Old Pilsner' makes for a decent breakfast after a morning spent curling;
• Daylight saving time doesn't have to happen in a progressive society
• Also during our time in Saskatchewan, we were adopted by our dog Bernard when he was but a fluffy 9 week old, 13lb puppy living on a sheep farm near Kindersley, Saskatchewan.  He has since grown into the 150lb master of the household that exerts WAY more influence over what we do in our daily lives than a dog ever should.  We have enjoyed every day of the time we have had him and hope that the fur coat that worked so well for him in Canada does not become too much of a burden for him in the heat of Australia;
• I finally became a Canadian citizen in May 2013.  For the record, this remains a proud day in my life and I don't understand why I didn't lock this in sooner.

Below are some images of Canada that are immediately recognizable to all that have spent any time here and will be part of my memories for ever.

It is sad to go but that time has come.  A fond farewell to all of the friends we have made and colleagues we have lived, worked and played with from the West Coast to the Arctic to The Prairies and Ontario and to all the other places across the country we have visited and enjoyed while here.

An open invitation exists for anyone that makes it to Adelaide in Australia to visit us and stay a while and catch up on old times and make some new ones.

Bye for now.