Family

My sister recently posted an entry sharing some very exciting news: she, George and the girls are going to be moving to Halifax this summer! I’ve known about this plan for quite awhile, since well before Christmas, but obviously I couldn’t say anything until she made the announcement online.

To say that I am excited would be putting it mildly. One of the hardest parts of having moved two provinces away is being so far from any family. Neal’s family is closer than mine, as it only takes 4 hours to get to Saint John, New Brunswick, but 4 hours is 4 hours, and it means that we only go a few times a year. I have often thought that if only we had family in the city, then the times when Neal sails for more than a week or two at a time would be made slightly easier. Not easy, by any stretch, but at least I would feel more connected.

Sherry and George have wanted to move to Halifax for a long time – since before I even came here on vacation to check it out in 2004. It was from listening to their stories and looking at their pictures that I first had the idea that when I finally left Quebec – as had been the plan since I was 15 and experienced my first separation referendum – I might like living here. So really, I have to credit Sherry and George, in part, for getting me here.

And now that Neal and I are going to have a baby, I am even more stoked than I would otherwise be, because Baby Guthrie will get to know her cousins, Hayley and Breanna, and her aunt and uncle. Growing up, I was always surrounded by loads of family, so the thought that Neal and I would be the only family she would see on a regular basis seemed strange to me.

I really can’t wait, and honestly sometimes I can’t even believe that I will soon have family living here. That I’ll be able to pick up the phone and call my sister and not be charged for long-distance. That I can invite them over for supper on a Saturday or go to their place. That we can all get together and go to the beach together.