Why do you want to move? To experience a more urban way of life, to be closer to our ski condo, to be surrounded by people who are more active, to experience way better work opportunities (D absolutely, Me -- Jury is still out).
Are you dissatisfied with your life as it currently stands? Yes and No. Yes with respect to environment and peers. No with respect to finances and how our life generally feels like and looks like on paper. It would be easier in some ways if we had to move because of need. As it is, we live a pretty diversified life right now. It isn't "perfect" but we feel we've made the most of what we have. For sure the topic of whether it is an ungratefulness issue has come up and we don't feel it is that at all. Being that it is a bit too steep effort wise to try for an oversea move, within Canada is our best shot at something different.
Why would you even consider such an "expensive" place? Bigger city means far more activities to chose from. We are thinking of how we want to continue living beyond work. Remember how difficult it was for me to find a private ballet teacher? No problem where we are looking. Plus there is an opportunity to learn something I've always wanted to do -- Biathlon!!! -- and other things we want to get into, like adventure racing. The terrain and culture out west is totally conducive to that. There are less expensive places out west but unfortunately that also tends to mean not great work opportunities for D whereas better for me work wise, for a number of reasons. Finding a place that is ideal for both of us has been tough.
Why Now? Timing is good with respect to us probably having another 10 years or so left in our careers. Long enough to build something meaningful (more relevant for me). Honestly, since I've moved to part time, I've been more content than I can remember (am also a creature of habit). D's spear heading this search but I'm open to new opportunities and definitely open to a more exciting life. Feeling like we've "beat" the system here in Ontario, allowing us to be in a place financially where we can afford to dream "bigger" or so we think. Mind you, out there we're not swimming in a small pond anymore.
What would you have to give up? The cottage, our large well built and architecturally significant home, significant square footage, possibly a garage, a car (a good thing), possessions (not necessarily a bad thing, but it might mean my piano and French antiques), convenient flights to Europe (this move would add another 4+ hours one way), my autonomy at work (biggie -- not at all sure about having to work "under" someone again), a short commute (me), Pearson Airport (it's not perfect but we like it), The Great Lakes (We are spoiled in Ontario with abundance of fresh water. Small lakes just aren't the same.), good friends (lucky I'm not adverse to travelling, don't see this as much of an issue, am good with keeping in touch).
How would you make it work? Bigger city, higher percentage of financially leverage lives -- Not a place we wish to venture into. No way would I consider buying a house for 600K+ at this stage of my/our lives. I don't want to sink that much money in what could/would be our "final home". Don't people tend to go the other way and sell to get money out of their home? We are looking for the least expensive (if it even exists) reasonable form of housing. What that means is just being there has to be so great that we would be willing to give up house ownership. I'm getting ahead of myself again. We would be renting for the first year until we get to know our way around. I can see us moving to a different neighbourhood the following year and seeing how we like it. If we pare down our possessions, it shouldn't be problem. I've already found a storage place just in case.
What are you afraid of? Of failing. Of giving up everything we have here and realizing too late and not having anything to come back to (thinking of my office here because I would have sold it). Of feeling "poor" and finding we have to work harder than predicted and not having the amount of leisure time we thought we'd have. Of all the work involved. Of feeling claustrophobic. Of being dependent on D until I find the right fit.
Strange, I would have thought Ontario was more "urban" than Western Canada. I guess you are moving to one of the big cities in BC or AB and moving away from a smaller community in ON (not Toronto).
ReplyDeleteNot being a Canadian myself, I have limited opportunity to explore the country, but having been to Victoria, Vancouver, Whistler, Calgary, and Jasper/Banff, I can see why you'd want to move out there. So much scenic beauty all around. Personally I could live in or near the small town of Banff for a long time and never grow tired of it.
I'm impressed! You've seen more of Canada than a lot of Canadians I know. Have you been to our east coast?
DeleteHaving grown up in downtown Toronto, I don't want that size of urban. We live on the edge of a "major" city but it still isn't large enough to have enough choice in the types of things we would like to see.
Living close to a National Park would be pretty cool. And really, a plan B of sorts for us. In many ways delaying a move until we don't need/want to work anymore would be much easier.
Then we could buy something that doesn't need to be right downtown nor near career opportunities and potentially (wouldn't apply to Banff village itself) save a lot more money.
It would mean waiting until we are in our 50's. We'd like to see if we can make something happen while we are still in our 40's and this appears to be our best shot at it.
I have been to Montreal but that's it as far as eastern Canada is concerned. Living in New England, I guess I looked for a different type of scenery when planning visits to Canada -- hence my trips out west.
DeleteHey, don't discount Newfoundland and Labrador. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are similar in topography to Maine but Nfld and especially Labrador are in a league of their own with elements that remind me of Iceland and Norway.
Deletehttp://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/PlacesToGo/TorngatMountainsNationalPark
and check out the 5th video to the right "Find Yourself Here": Enjoy!
http://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/
I guess when you go far enough North, it doesn't matter anymore whether you are East or West. Looks like pretty country.
DeleteI am biased as I have leanings towards cold stark environments.
DeleteAlso learning that latitude is really latitude with major differences being cultural.
I can relate to the last paragraph. It's hard to drive over the "risk bump". Regarding Biathlon - do you mean the traditional XC ski and shooting, or one of the more modern definitions of any two sports?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely meant traditional -- Biathlon and ski jumping being my two most favourite winter Olympic sports to follow (think I must have been Norwegian in a past life). I remember years ago you could try your hand at ski jumping in the summer at Lake Placid. Don't think they offer that anymore.
DeleteI'm still waiting for my gut to say yes. In the end, that's what will give me that push and allow us to overcome that fear hump. Until then we are just figuring out details and solutions which may or may not be needed.
No, I don't believe you can give ski jumping a try in Lake Placid. They expect a couple of years of practice on the K-20 and K-48 jumps before they even let you try the K-90 and K-120. I thought they might let people try the smaller aeriel practice ramps which are also at the same location and where you land in a pool. But when we asked, we found out that those are also only for people in organized programs.
ReplyDeleteYou are testing my memory here. I remember reading on their site years ago about the opportunity to try the small aerial ramp into the pool for a very modest fee. They had pricing for one jump and for I believe was half day? D and I weren't married yet nor living in our current location so that was at least 6 years ago but no more than 10. I attempted (to no avail) to talk him out of our road trip to Vermont and head to Lake Placid instead so I could give it a go (he thought I was crazy for wanting to try jumping in the first place). There was also the option to jump onto a large bag which didn't appeal to me. I also remember wondering what type of liability insurance/waiver they must have in place (and what I'd do if I got whiplash) to be able run such an activity.
DeleteYou sound like you know about this sport. Have you had the good fortune of training?
Heh-heh. My knowledge of the sport is limited to spending quite a few hours watching the K-90 jumps. If I were to actually go down one of the ramps, I am certain the result would be a repeat of the old ABC's Wide World of Sports intro, where the guy misses the ramp and spectacularly wipes out while Jim McKay says "...and the agony of defeat."
DeleteYou may be right that you could show up and try a jump in the past. My experiences in LP have all been more recent than yours.
You're funny.
DeleteDidn't have any delusions of excelling spectacularly either had I jumped. Good thing I'm not adverse to looking ridiculous and laughing at myself, in small doses.
What matters more in my mind is that you guys were interested enough to ask about the possibility. That alone separates you from the masses.
I love the last question. That is the one that always gets in the way for me. Fear of making the wrong decision keeps us from making any decision and that can be just as bad.
ReplyDeleteIf I think about my life though, all the things I feared seldom happened. Hmmmm...
I can attest to it too -- That none of the Huge things I've feared have actually come true (knock on wood). For some reason, it doesn't stop fear from showing up anyways. I'm actually anxious for a resolution, which may be just as flawed as not making a decision at all...
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