When I first got married, my husband and I were living in downtown Toronto, Ontario. Toronto is Canada’s largest city, and the place where I went to university, so I really loved it there. It was just… home!

But my new husband was looking at the job market in his field in Toronto versus in Alberta, and we decided it was probably better to head out to where the jobs were. It was just a better start to married life. So we moved about four months after we got married, and I left my family behind in Toronto and we headed west.

In some ways, it was really good for us–we had to rely on each other and figure out who we were as a couple. In other ways, it was hard because I’d always been close to my family and really missed them a lot.

We visited them, and they visited us, and there were lots of phone calls, but it’s not really the same as living in the same city.

Thirteen years of marriage later, we’re still out in Alberta, but FINALLY, my parents are retiring and heading out here to be with us! In fact, they’ll be here this month. It’ll be so nice to have them close by at long last–more grandparents to spoil our son rotten, and just family to be close by.

This months, we’ll all be together again, in small town, Alberta. ❤