Welcome Back,
Well, it seems we have a change in plans as far as where we want to settle in Canada. Not that change is a bad thing… But now it comes with more planning and more of an expense.
Plan A consisted of me crossing the border with all of my belongings, and staying with my husband at his grandparents house just long enough to find our own place. Then once we found a place in the Ottawa area, we would plant roots and settle there. That’s the area my husband was born/raised and most of his family and friends are out there. He felt that it would be the best place to start off…
Well, for the last few months, my husband has been thinking things over, weighing the pros & cons and now believes it is best that we move out West to the Calgary area. His parents and sister are out there, he has a friend/business partner out there, and Calgary is were his business is established.
Even though many of his friends he grew up with are all within a 10 mile radius, James has grown apart from them in the sense that he has grown up and has dreams and aspirations and wants to start a family… Where as his friends are still stuck in the stoner high school stage in their lives… Going on 10 years now since any of them were in high school… A few still live at home with no desire to get their own place, they all smoke heavily and can’t remember the last time they were sober. Their days consist of drinking, smoking, playing games on the Xbox……. and that’s about it…. No joke!
In all honesty, James moved out to Calgary a few years ago just after his immediate family moved out there. He wanted to start his business, he was in the middle of writing a book, and had a few other projects he wanted to start… but thought by staying in Ottawa where his friends were, would only hold him back. So he made his way out to Calgary and lived out there for 3 years. For the last 3 years he’s been bouncing around between Calgary, Ottawa and down here in the USA. Last year he figured he’d move back to Ottawa and stay with his grandparents which would make it easier for us to see each other more often. Never spending more than 2 months at a time there, but as of this Friday things there will change.
Four of his cousins are coming to stay in the same house, along with their 2 grandparents, their uncle and my husband which are already there…My husband has his base of operation downstairs in a small room in their basement. Both of the finished rooms in the basement are no bigger than 8X8, while the rest of the basement is open for the most part, but there are plenty of boxes and items being stored down there. Never mind adding 4 teenagers and a house full of their belongings.
Well this situation is really putting a fire under my husbands ass to vacate. Not that he’s being asked to leave. We figure that we’ll finally get the update we’ve been waiting for from Immigration this month, as we’ve already been waiting 36 days since the application was received in New York City. He wanted to come down for the BigE anyway and wanted to come down to help me pack up and sell my things. At least while he’s here he can get some work done while I’m at work, and he doesn’t have to share one bathroom with 7 other people.
I myself, really don’t really have a preference as to where we plant our roots. I have moved around a lot and being able to adjust comes naturally for me. Not that I enjoy moving… I dread moving. But in this case I’m going to be able to start with a clean slate, and change my career and start doing something I’m passionate about. Getting out of the Automotive field will be a huge relief. Thirteen years is far too long…At the very least I know I have something to fall back on if I have a hard time finding a job baking and cake decorating.
So Plan B now consists of James coming down next Friday… Going to the BigE on Sunday… Waiting for the Passport Request to come in the mail then wait for it to be sent back… Finally give my 2 week notice at work… Sell what I can, donate what I can’t sell, pack what I can into my little Saturn and drive us over the border into Canada… Stay at a hotel for the night, swing by his grandparents for a final goodbye and start our 2,200 mile journey across Canada.
Seriously though, I really wish I had the address for where I am suppose to send my
passport… My paperwork has been sitting at the NYC office since August 18, 2009…. It’s now September 23, 2009… I could have mailed it in, included a self addressed envelope for them to return it once they attach my Visa, and I could be well on my way already….
All of this waiting is very aggravating! Even though we are only 100 days into this process (the typical time frame is about 204 days)… Immigration counts the day they receive your application as Day1… The fact that we spent months gathering the “get it yourself” paperwork, proof, documents, fingerprints, medical exam and $1400.00 for the fees doesn’t mean anything. Nor does the fact that we’ve been in this long distance relationship since June 2007, or being married since November 2008 factor in to their countdown! ( 2.5 months together is the longest time spent with each other while 6 months apart was the longest away from each other) But it sure factors in from where I sit!
That’s the final stage to all of this before I can legally move to Canada… A simple piece of paper telling me where to send my passport, I send it, they stamp it and send it back, and I’m free to leave. Makes me wonder if the are sending my PPR on a slow boat from China….
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