How the summer has flown by… Summers often do, but this one has in particular for us because of our move. Not so long ago, we found out that Neal had been accepted into the UTPNCM (officer) program and that we were going to move to Fredericton. Thus commenced a flurry of activity as we prepared our house to be listed on the market – cleaning, purging, painting. Thankfully, despite a really terrible seller’s market here, we managed to get a firm Agreement of Purchase and Sale on our house right before we headed to Fredericton for our house hunting trip. We didn’t get exactly what we wanted for the house, but we didn’t lose and at least we could look at houses without worrying about whether we would actually be able to buy it.
The house hunting trip was busy but fun. We were there for 10 days and we managed to fit in some touring around our new city amidst the house viewings and phone calls and emails. We had Claire with us for most of the trip, but thankfully Neal’s parents were able to come up and stay with us in Fredericton for a few days when we were going with the realtor to see a bunch of houses (we saw 14 on our first day!).
We found a lovely house in Lincoln Heights (for those of you familiar with Fredericton), and we are pretty excited to get there. Here are a couple of pictures from the MLS listing:
It appears to be a developing neighbourhood, as there are signs of more houses being built, or planned to be built in the area. There is a park with a little splash pool nearby (probably within walking distance), and although we are in the middle of suburbia, it’s only a 10-minute drive to downtown, and – if Neal gets his first actual posting in Gagetown – only a 10 minute drive to Oromocto in the other direction.
So we’re pretty excited to get there and get settled, but of course, there is some sadness and some anxiety in there as well. We went to Sherry’s and George’s last night for the afternoon and supper. Claire spent pretty much the entire time playing with Breanna, and the rest of us hung out and chatted. I managed to make it until I hugged Sherry goodbye before I broke down and started to cry. We went through something similar ten years ago when I moved from Montreal to Halifax. Sherry was pregnant with Breanna, and Hayley was really little. I remember colouring with Hayley and she turned to me at one point and asked me why I had to move so far away. To make it even worse, that time I didn’t technically HAVE to leave; I was choosing to do so. At least this time, we are being obliged to move, so it reduces the guilt somewhat.
Sherry and I had a little cry, and then I pulled myself together to get into the car. I barely held myself in check when Claire said from the back seat, “I’m really going to miss Breanna.”
Sigh. We are excited, and I do believe this is the best path for our family (ie, Neal becoming an officer), but I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a little bittersweet and if I didn’t admit to feeling some anxiety that seems to grow with each passing day (not helped by the fact that I will be unemployed as of 4pm this Friday). But I know it will all work out. It worked out for me before when I moved to Halifax and didn’t have a job, and I was by myself back then. I have a decent amount of experience in my field, and I have an excellent work ethic, so once I get settled there, it will all work out. And it’s only a 4-hour drive to visit Sherry and her family, so we’ll just have to make some trips down this way on long weekends, and hopefully they will come up to see us in Fredericton.
