This post is bittersweet.
As you probably know my husband and I are leaving Toronto to start our new lives in Peterborough, Ontario. Although we are extremely excited to see what Peterborough has in store for us, the journey to get us here has not been easy and we are sad to say goodbye to a place we have called home for so long.
We’ve had a hard time deciding what to do. On the one hand my husband and I have incredible jobs here that we both absolutely love, as well as friends, awesome coworkers and we love our beautiful neighbourhood. But if we’re being really honest, it’s the Fresh restaurant and Lululemon right down the street from us that we’ll really miss :p haha.
All joking aside, Toronto has so much to offer. There are so many awesome parks throughout the city, trails, beaches, the island, the lakefront boardwalk, the cute and amazing coffee shops at every corner, the one of a kind thrift stores, the lights at night and all the best restaurants you could ever ask for!
Each of those things are so great and I will miss them all dearly, however, the thing I am going to miss the most about this city is the people. I’ve met so many absolutely outstanding and inspirational people since living in Toronto. From clients/patients and coworkers who have become great friends, to those I have met in passing. The things people are doing in this city are unbelievable. I attribute a lot of my success to this city. It has a way of pushing you to be your best and then get better.
Toronto has also been home to a lot of firsts for us: It’s where we both started our careers, our first time living together, our first time raising a dog on our own, our first time getting engaged (and hopefully the last :\) and our first years as a married couple. We have so many beautiful memories here. <3
So you’re probably wondering why we are leaving right? Ya, I still sometimes wonder that too.
Well I could get into my laundry list of all the nuisances of Toronto, but I will spare you those details as they 1. don’t serve a purpose and 2. don’t make me or you feel good.
Instead I am going to tell you why we’ve decided to move to Peterborough.
Some of you may know, but my husband is from Peterborough and his entire family lives in the area. In addition to that, so does my whole family haha. They’ve all moved there over the past few years and consequently we are there almost every weekend visiting.
We absolutely love Peterborough.
Photo source: PTBO Canada
The pace of the city is just right, the sense of community it has to offer, all of the nature and waterfront, friends and connections we already have there, the friendly people and of course, the houses are much cheaper. haha 😉 I’m just kidding, but not really.
In all seriousness, Mike and I have always wanted to move back to Peterborough but the timing has never been right. And over time what we’ve learned is that the timing will never be right. If you want something you have to act on it, otherwise someone else will, or the opportunity will pass by. We felt like we have been getting pulled deeper and deeper into our Toronto lives and it was getting harder and harder for us to pull out. We knew we had to make a decision soon before we got too deep into our careers here and it would be too late to start over.
Needless to say we decided to follow our hearts instead of our heads. It made financial and logical sense to continue working in Toronto, but we are both family people and we knew deep down where we would be happier.
Having said that, we recognize that we are extremely fortunate that our skill sets are transferrable and that we will be able to find work anywhere we decide to go as we realize that that isn’t necessarily the case for everyone.
I must also disclose that Allen did have quite an influence on this decision and we cannot wait for him to see the new place and for us to start our lives there. 🙂
So to wrap this post up I first want to thank everyone in my Toronto life for making it so special and for making me who I am today (you know who you are <3). I will be back to visit often!
I also want to say watch out Peterborough because I’m coming for ya! I can’t wait to meet new friends and create new connections <3
And lastly I want to say: Follow your heart.
You will never regret a decision you’ve made when it’s made from a place of love, honesty and gratefulness.
Until next time,
xoxo
Deb Hayes
October 15, 2017 at 7:24 pmWishing you all the very best in your new home and starting this new chapter in beautiful Peterborough. Always love reading your blog 🙂
Deb and Bill
JessD
October 17, 2017 at 4:47 pmThank you so much Bill + Deb <3