Comparisons

Life here... well, it's different... and yet the same.

Let me break it down for you: 5019 kilometres distance (3119 miles); 5 provinces between; maritimes to prairie; rural to town.

Big changes.

And yet, not so big. Some things are remarkably similar. We still speak English, for instance. Granted, it's a more understandable version here out west (for me, anyways, as I was west coast raised), but the same nonetheless. We have (different versions of) the same stores. We use the same multi-colored monopoly money out here.

And some differences. There's more country music stations. There's fewer bugs out here. (Except for the spider that crawled under my hair last night as I slept and bit me on the back of the neck. Web-slinging skills aside, it woke me up in the middle of the night and itched like a mother-f.... um, anyways.... back to what I was saying.) There's more sky.

No, seriously; I can see more sky. It's a big thing for me. Ever heard of "big sky Montana"? Well, we're just north of that. Same thing. Lots of rolling hills and prairie land, which equals more room to see the horizon and the sky.

Room to breathe.

And here are more comparisons of our life in pictures... because it's just more fun that way.

Dinos still lay where they fall, exhausted after rough-roaring-rollicking playtime with the dino wrangler. Now, however, they have a nice cushiony bed to rest on. Yes, I'll come out of the closet and admit it: I love carpeting. I don't care about dust mites or allergens. That's why God made Mr. Dyson who invented the only vacuum worth using.

Evan still dreams of dinos, just in a different bed. Sure, he might be batman-pajama-wearing and sleep in a spiderman bed, but he still dreams and thinks of dinos.

We still have flames to warm ourselves by, but this kind won't take an hour, half a gallon of lighter fluid, and a sailor's vocabulary to start (depending on which way the wind is blowing, of course). All I need is a switch. Ahhhhh..... We still have little footprints to admire of course, and our ritual candle-lighting at night. You know, the important things.

Here's where (I think) the differences become glaringly apparent. Take a good long look at the next picture and compare it to the following one taken last summer. Can YOU spot the differences?

Did you see the subtle differences? No? Okay, I'll tell you. There are houses and stores and people and a real neighbourhood in the first. Just an empty field in the second (the deer had just left).

Did we come down in life, moving from an idyllic rural existence to a cliched suburban haven? If so, then I think down is the new up. Because I love having people around me. I love being in a community. I love the noises and sights of a place where lots of people live. I love the friendliness of this little community. I love how even though there are tons of people living around me (I'm guessing, I haven't actually weighed them), I feel that there is more space to breathe and relax. I don't feel suffocated anymore.

There will be rough times ahead, when the reality of the move has actually hit me and I'm dealing with adjusting and Evan missing all his friends (and mine too).

But for now, I'm just looking to the day.

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