Moving Day Approaches

I really should know better than to say "never". When I moved from a small rural community to a big city I said I'd never live in a small town again, yet later on we would do exactly that, living on a small acreage for a few years. When I was younger I said I was never having kids and yet we raised two all the way to functioning adulthood. (Super proud of them by the way 😁) I said I would never have pets as they were too much work and they get the house dirty and here I am looking after 2 energetic shedding dogs, a cranky geriatric cat and a parrot whom we lovingly call the Murder Pidgeon. When we left Toronto after graduating we said we'd never live there again and here we are now, preparing to do exactly that.

Gordo helping me knit

Never is a funny word that can be both past, present and future. I never thought I would own a house, never thought I would be a gardener, never thought I would live in other countries, never thought I would like asparagus and never thought I would own my own business. Lucky for me my business is completely portable (for now...) And of course never thought we would move back to Toronto. Don't get me wrong, Toronto is a lovely city and when we left it over 30 years ago it was with the youthful exuberance that the grass of opportunity is greener in another city. It takes a while to realize that opportunity is actually everywhere.

So moving day is quickly approaching and although I was fully aware that downsizing was in my future I was expecting it to be a lovely leisurely process like in a Swedish death cleaning blog and not a friends and family feeding frenzy. They say that nobody wants your stuff but our stuff seems to be disappearing pretty fast. Guess we collected just the right stuff over the years. 😂 I'm okay with it though. I'm happy that the things that I found useful and brought me joy are going to continue to be useful and be enjoyed by someone else. It certainly makes paring down a 3000 sq ft home to a 900 sq ft condo easier.

The chaos of moving

Moving, especially to another city is both happy and sad. I'm sad to leave friends and family behind, a little sad about saying goodbye to the house and gardens that I put so much of myself into and a bit sad about people and places that I will likely never see again. The other side of the journey is the joy of starting new adventures, meeting new people, reconnecting with old friends and exploring new places. Instead of taking the dogs for a hike in the mountains I'll be taking them for long walks on beaches and forest trails. Instead of knitting on my front porch, I'll be knitting on my balcony overlooking the cityscape, or on a streetcar as I quest to check out new to me yarn shops, or on a train as I go visit people I know only 1 town away and not all the way across the country. I look forward to being host and tour guide when people visit to a city that is both new and familiar to me. I look forward to what things that I never would have thought of that will inspire me in upcoming knitting pattern designs. Maybe with less stuff to look after I'll have more focus to pull those inspirations all the way out of my head and onto my needles. You never know...

Toronto here we come!