To move or not to move?

My parent's circa 1972?

There has been something that has been really bothering me lately and I feel the need to put my thoughts down on "virtual" paper to see if this makes sense to me.

It would seem that most times I talk with my family the subject of me moving back home comes up. And I usually squash that topic with a quick reply of “Not until Hell freezes over!”

It‘s not that I don’t like my home town; in fact I have many fond memories of it from my childhood. And I am sure that in my Golden Years I will shed quite a few tears when I think of Sault Ste Marie. But I moved across the country for a reason. And one of those reasons is that I cannot live in a city that is so closed minded. That being said I try very hard not to make judgements on the people that I love and care about that have never left or have moved back. I understand from their point of view why they would choose to live in such a small city. But it is not a choice that I would make for myself. Maybe once James and I have a family of our own that may change but I really don’t see that happening.

That is until I see posts like this one; grant it this house is somewhere in the States but it got me very upset. So I went online to MLS and started searching. I first looked up homes (including condo’s) in Vancouver starting between $175,000 - $250,000 – 4 condos were found. I then looked up homes from $1 million - $10 million and over 500 were found and I was told to very kindly narrow my search. I then went and looked at homes in The Soo with the same criteria; and there were lots of home in the first range and only a few in the second. The homes were nice, usually 3 bedrooms with basements and yards. Actual homes that James and I can afford but in a city we do not want to live in.

At that point I started searching all over BC to see what would show up in our price range. There wasn’t a whole lot. I then on a lark went and looked up celebrity homes in LA and found gorgeous huge homes for about $1 -$2 million. So if I had the money I could either move to LA or by an ok home here in Vancouver. It just boils my blood to think that I live in a city where a home will cost you more than ½ a million dollars. To me that is just ludicrous.

And so at that point I started thinking that maybe moving is the only option for us. But then I started to remember all of the reasons why I moved from The Soo in the first place. So to balance that I decided to think of all the reasons why I would want to stay here in Vancouver and to think of what is important to me; the list is rather long:

• I love that there is no winter here in Vancouver
• I love that for a big city everyone is so nice and friendly
• The fact that there is a transit system that everyone uses and gets you most places is pretty cool
• I love that I can take a course in just about anything I can imagine
• I love that there are so many different types of restaurant’s here; if you pick a random place on the globe chances are you can find a place to eat that type of food
• I love that I have worked with so many different people from so many different cultures
• I love that people wear whatever they want and no one really seems to notice
• There are more places to shop for just about anything here
• Vancouver is a pretty safe city for its size
• Everyone here is into fitness and being healthy
• I LOVE that there are actual Doctors here and actual specialists
• Most women use midwives here and I think that is AMAZING!
• Homebirths are not frowned up :) (big plus in my books)
• Women us slings and breast feed ALL THE TIME
• Most women actually know what AP means and practice it
• I love that I can go places and not see anyone I know the whole day
• I appreciate that I know people who know what “real” stress is; it helps to humble me


I’m sure the list will get longer the more that I think of all the reasons why I love living in this West Coast city. As my friend Wendy says “It the quality of life that is important”. Maybe it is ok that my kids won’t grow up in an actual house. But they will have so many opportunities that I never did growing up. And that makes me smile.