25 YEARS IN TORONTO!

It's been 25 years since I moved to Toronto, Ontario!

I still remember walking out of Toronto’s Union Station onto Front Street all those years ago, and looking up at the tallest buildings I had ever seen.

It was 1989 and I was 19 years old. I had left my hometown of Truro, Nova Scotia the day before on the train. I came with a friend, Sherry. She was on March Break during her final year of high school. I had finished school and was working, but was off, still recovering from a serious car accident the November before. My older brother lived in Toronto at the time and I was coming to check out the big city. I had a return ticket for two weeks after I arrived that never got used.

There was a lot of job opportunities here at the time, and having my brother here was added security. Toronto was a big, new and exciting place to a small town girl from Nova Scotia.

Those first few years were spent taking advantage of all Toronto had to offer; the nightlife, new foods, seeing the bands live that I had worshipped as a teenager. My brother and I had a couple apartments together before I broke out on my own. He eventually moved further west, and I was truly on my own.  

I had a variety of jobs over those first years; cashier, filing clerk, and credit investigator. I’ve been working for the University of St. Michael’s College for close to 20 years now in an administrative type position.   

One of the things I am most proud of since I’ve been here, is starting a successful women’s social club that ran for over a decade. Many friendships were formed because of that club, and many of my closest friends are a direct result of it.

It hasn’t always been easy here for me, especially on the relationship front. I kissed a few frogs before I found my prince, but he was worth every tear shed. Rob and I have been together for over ten years now, and married for just over one.

I’m definitely not the same person I was when I left Nova Scotia. I don’t feel the need to always be on the go anymore and enjoy my time at home more and more. Rob and I have discovered a shared passion for birding, wildlife and nature in general. We volunteer and try to support many organizations dear to us. When we do go out, it’s usually early in the mornings to see birds instead of late at night to see bands. I still enjoy a few concerts every year though, I’m just more fussy about it.  

I will always be a Maritimer at heart and I still miss many things from Nova Scotia; my family, friends, the seafood, and the smell of the salt air, but Toronto has been good to me.  

Nova Scotia gave me my roots, but it’s in Ontario that I learned to spread my wings and fly.

Here's to 25, cheers!