I'm one of those rare people who truly like their parents. Even through high school when it wasn't cool to be seen with your parents or even admit you had parents, I still enjoyed spending time with them and hanging out with them. Growing up, most Saturdays were spent with my grandparents and then when my brother and I were old enough to do manual labour, we spent out Saturdays out at my great-grandparent's house where we cut the grass and helped my parents tend to the gardens out there (and ate copious amounts of homemade oatmeal cookies and ham sandwiches). Most of our summer vacations were spent visiting relatives: Great Aunt and Uncle and cousins in Sharbot Lake/Ottawa, Aunt, Uncle and cousins in New Brunswick, Aunt and Uncle in Thunder Bay.
So part of me finds it very odd that I choose to live pretty far away from my family. Heck, for 4 years I was more than 4,000kms away from them. That was hard. But now I live roughly 500kms away from them. Prior to last year, I saw my family maybe 2-3 times a year tops. Due to some good timing, paid holidays and some kick-ass seat sales, I've been able to come home 6 times in the last 13 months. As I said good-bye to family today, I said to them all "I'll see you at Christmas" and for the first time in a long time, that seemed like a very long period of time.
Living that far away, I do miss a lot of family parties, but I've only missed Christmas at home twice (and the 2nd time my brother came to visit me). This morning, I got to see my brother, sister-in-law, both my nieces and my nephew. This evening I had dinner and visited with my grandparents and my great aunt and uncle, who are like grandparents to me. It was a very nice "family" day. On Monday, I head back to my home in Ottawa. It will be nice getting back to my own place, my own bed. I won't have to worry about waking people up if I want to stay up late and read or watch a movie. I don't have anyone yelling at me if I have a 20 minute shower. I don't have anyone asking me what I'm doing or where I'm going or have to wait for anyone to get off the computer so I can use it. But I'll still miss my family. No matter how many times I stand on that train platform (or at that departure gate), saying goodbye never gets any easier. A little part of my heart breaks each time. I usually spend most of my train ride between Kitchener and Toronto thinking about my family and thinking back on my visit home. Once I get to Toronto, I focus on changing trains and then I focus on my trip to Ottawa.
Back in 2008, I was living in Calgary and had flown home to Cambridge to celebrate my 30th birthday with my family. Upon my return to Calgary, I was so sad to be back there, that I actually started to cry when the plane was on its final approach into Calgary. That was a major sign that it was time to think about re-locating. I sometimes so think about moving closer to home. It would be nice to be able to spend more time with family. But there really isn't anything here for me other than family. The jobs in the area are scarce and most of the people who I used to know here have moved away or I've lot contact with. I love Ottawa. I just wish I could find a way to be able to come home a little more often to visit, that's all. Or convince more people to come to Ottawa and visit me. I also am way overdue for visits to Sudbury, Calgary and Prince George. LOL. Apparently I need to find a man who owns his own plane or has a lot of spare air miles!
Tomorrow is my last full day of holidays at home as Monday will be a travel day. I plan on spending it all with my mom and dad, just enjoying their company...and access to free laundry :)
I hope everyone reading this can take a moment to call or visit some of their family and just enjoy the gift that is family.
Good Night.
Sarah
My mom and dad at the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory
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