An Anniversary

Just a little more than one year ago, we moved "back" to Toronto.

I'm using quotes because I hoped that moving back would mean familiarity, ease, and everything associated with a place that I grew up in.

Of course, I knew that it would be harder than moving to another new city, another new country. Places have changed, institutions I grew up in are torn down or have changed visions, friends have moved on, passions are different, ideologies and values aren't the same - in other words, we have moved to a place with a culture that we don't yet understand.

As hard as it is to have to re-establish old friendships and forge new ones, we're trying to find and notice the bits that make us thankful to be here. Here we go again - some may be repeats from last year, but we're thankful, just the same.

What we love about Toronto/Canada:

• Fruits Galore - I'm sitting here getting wafts of the sweet smells of fresh peaches, thinking about the blueberries, raspberries, fresh-picked strawberries that I'm going to eat for breakfast tomorrow.

• Lush Grass and Cool Breezes - The kids have such a blast playing out in the backyard, "swimming" in the wading pool, drawing with chalk - and I don't have to worry about any pesticides since they've been banned here for several years!
  

• My Garden - Yes, Ms. I-Can-Kill-Cactuses has a grown a garden for the second year in a row! This year, my garden is already showing signs of an abundance of zucchini, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, red and orange peppers, basil, parsley, beans, strawberries and blueberries. 

•  Church - We're slowly connecting at our neighbourhood church - and that means so much to us as COMMUNITY is what we're trying to establish here. That's the theme of our lives this year, and may be blogged about at a later time

• Kiddie Options - TONS of places to take my kids,  TONS of activities for them, TONS of friends for them to make... also a source of my frustration because of the abundance of choice, but thankful that I can have these choices.

• Food - One of the things we miss about traveling is the food - we're so thankful that I can cook just about any ethnic food I want, and go eat out at almost any ethnic restaurant we want too!

I'm sure there's much more, but for now, I need to sleep!

With a thankful heart, I'm signing off...