Been exactly a year since I saw my family

[trailmix 77]

I hear you about winter weather!

We may go home frequently at first but eventually one's life in the States will feel more comfortable and the visits will tail off a bit.

So, eventually I won't see my parents as much? Whether I'm 25 or 40 or 55, I will see my parents as many times a year as I possibly can, children in womb or not!

And trailmix, I don't think it's negative at all what you are doing. In fact, maybe it will happen to me one day..who knows!

Yeah me either, I mean it's just that some people speak as though it is undoable - or a negative, I personally don't feel that way.

Edited August 27, 2009 by trailmix

[thetreble 19]

I guess every one is different that way. Winter was always a blast for me and I never minded the cold. It;s so beautiful sometimes at night when the snow is coming down.

[JillA 2]

I guess every one is different that way. Winter was always a blast for me and I never minded the cold. It;s so beautiful sometimes at night when the snow is coming down.

Me too, I actually missed the winter this past year. Here, we barely got any snow and I missed it. Not the commute in snowstorms, but the beauty and fun of winter

[trailmix 77]

I guess every one is different that way. Winter was always a blast for me and I never minded the cold. It;s so beautiful sometimes at night when the snow is coming down.

Me too, I actually missed the winter this past year. Here, we barely got any snow and I missed it. Not the commute in snowstorms, but the beauty and fun of winter

Winter is beautiful (well city streets aren't that beautiful ) - it's really the driving in snow that puts me off. I also threw away my winter coat, so it might be a tad chilly this year

Edited August 27, 2009 by trailmix

[Sprailenes 47]

I love the snow. I lived in the snow belt and it was amazing. I also loved going into Tim Hortons in the mornings for my coffee and hearing everyone complain about the snow or people making fun of the people in Buffalo for getting the army involved when only a couple of inches fell on the ground.

I love winter.

[JillA 2]

I love the snow. I lived in the snow belt and it was amazing. I also loved going into Tim Hortons in the mornings for my coffee and hearing everyone complain about the snow or people making fun of the people in Buffalo for getting the army involved when only a couple of inches fell on the ground.

I love winter.

Buffalo? Toronto's Mel Lastman called in the army in 1999 due to a heavy snowfall All the other provinces made fun of us so bad

[CanAmCharlotte 0]

We may go home frequently at first but eventually one's life in the States will feel more comfortable and the visits will tail off a bit.

So, eventually I won't see my parents as much? Whether I'm 25 or 40 or 55, I will see my parents as many times a year as I possibly can, children in womb or not!

I envy you being able to drive for seven hours to see family/friends. It's a hell of a long haul but definitely doable. I sincerely hope you do get to see your folks as much as you do now but some of us who are farther away have to budget (ugh) and plan for get-togethers. While you're going through the adjustment period after moving here, you need to go home to catch your breath (money be damned!) but once you are more settled, I believe that aching need starts to diminish (thank God). I see a group of Canadian ex-pats occasionally that I met through meetup.com and they all agree. Most of them have been here at least ten years and I doubt one of them could even name the premier of the province from which they hail and these are well-educated folks! Shocking...OK, not really but it shows their ties to Canada are not as strong as they once were.

[Moosker 7]

I COMPLETELY feel your pain. I "moved" (going back every 90 days to Canada) to the U.S. from Canada in October 2008. It's been a H-E-double hockey stick of a journey. It's nice living in a different area, but it's no fun not living close to family. I have made friends, but it's not the same as my good ole' friends back at home. I struggle with being here daily, sometimes I don't think my husband really understand, especially when I talk about moving back to Canada already! Are you in the Washington, DC area (I saw your Alexandria VA local office on your profile!) I am...I'll go for coffee

[SapphireDreams 71]

I personally found the first 2 months extremely overwhelming, but I've realized that I've totally started to become used to things here and even though i miss my family terribly, I'm starting to feel settled.

It's funny because for those first 2 months I couldn't stop thinking about how much I wanted to move back in like 5 years or so... but those feelings have really tapered off for me in the past month. I'm sure I'll go through bouts of homesickness, but I think acceptance and adjustment were really key to my feelings of overwhelmingness.

I hope you see your family soon Udella...

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I hate snow. Oh, yes - it is beautiful at times - in a photograph, hehehe! I had my fill of snow for 49 winters and that will do me very well for the rest of my life, thank you very much! I definitely don't miss Canadian winters - I was never warm and I always suffered from SAD. I even experienced it a little bit here this past winter for the first time since I left because we had a longer and colder and grayer winter than we normally have.

I still get homesick occasionally - and it is always worse after a visit home. The first year or two, however, were harder than now and there were several times I debated just 'going home'. Now it is more that I miss occasions or events or individuals rather than 'home'. I would love to live in Kingston again and if I could find a community like Kingston in the States that doesn't have Canadian winter weather I would move in a heart beat (well, ok, I would have to convince my husband to move too, hehehehe).

I have been here over 5 years now and it is home. I had lived away from my family for quite a number of years already before I moved here and as it was a 7 hour drive to visit them I generally only got to see them once or twice a year as it was. We talked every week on the phone and sometimes more. Regardless, I had got used to living on my own and making a new life for myself away from my family. My Mom passed away 6 years ago. That is a distance that no travelling will diminish, though. I miss her still and wish I could just phone her up and talk like we used to do. That is a loneliness that I can't erase. Time helps . . . a little.

My Dad has been to visit a few times along with a number of friends, and that has definitely helped. Eventually, though, as you get older you end up living your own life, and while friends and family remain important, you realize that you do go off in your own direction. Change is inevitable - some welcome and some not - but that is the nature of life. Change helps you learn how to make the best of things and to appreciate what you have. Homesickness reminds you of what you had but I have also learned that you can't just 'go back'. It isn't the same. Change has happened there as well.