The saying has never rang so true as it has for our family right now. This was our summer to move. We were back home in Canada for a ‘pause’, as they say en francais. Contractually speaking, we were supposed to be packed up and moved overseas in the next few weeks. 

Clearly that’s not the case. We’re still knee deep in maple syrup, working on our hockey stick handling, while we shout ‘eh’ across the backyard.

So what does that mean for us, our passports, and our lives?

We’re not actually sure.

I suppose it means that we’ve kicked the can down the road, so to speak, and instead of making a decision last year, we make it this year. Of course we can stay here, we are Canadian after all. But if that is the choice we make, then we are closing the door on expat life and buckling in for another 20 years of ‘regular life’ until retirement.

Now what!?

We love our life in Canada. We have family here, we bought our ‘forever’ home, I’ve started a business that I’m crazy passionate about, and living in Calgary gives us the best of what Canada has to offer.

The flip side of that? We miss travel, adventure, and the culture that living abroad gives our children. Most of all, we miss the quality time that we get with our kids when we step out of the rat race and get to spend time exploring the world as a family.

It’s not a clear decision for us. There are most definitely pros and cons to both sides. What I know for sure is that we’re now living on borrowed time and we’ll have a big decision to make later this year.

Until then…

This will be the first summer that we won’t be in Europe. The first summer we won’t be flying around the world on an adventure. And most definitely the first summer we won’t get on a plane. We aren’t going to simply sit in the house though, because we’ve just done that for about 3 months. Instead, we’ll make some Canadian memories, cause you just never know.

In my mind, there’s no bolder Canadian memory, or right of passage, than driving across the country. It’s the ultimate road trip!

For those of you that aren’t Canadian, allow me to paint you a quick picture.

We live in Calgary, which is on the western side of Canada, but not all the way on the coast. I grew up in Thunder Bay, which is in the northwestern part of Ontario. Getting from our current home to the home I grew up in will take us 22 hours of driving.

Yes, 22 hours in the car. Roughly, Paris to Moscow, if you want a Euro point of reference.

But we’re not even half way there yet. Kevin is from northern New Brunswick, where our trip will end… about 45 hours and according to Google, 4363.5km away from Calgary.

Using that European analogy, it’s kinda like driving from Paris to Afghanistan.

Here’s the kicker, my friends….I’m doing it by myself with the kids!!!

Not because I have to, but because I always need a challenge and this crazy idea came into my head during coronavirus lockdown.

What you may or may not know is that I actually hate driving.

For the final 3 years we lived abroad I didn’t drive at all, we had our own driver. So when I say I don’t drive, I really don’t drive. Driving 45 minutes to Banff would be considered a big deal, one I don’t think I’ve actually done before. In France we’d go on girls’ trips to Bordeaux or the coast, it was common knowledge among my girlfriends that I wouldn’t be driving.

Yet, here in Canada I’ve challenged myself to drive 2 kids clear across the country, on my own, for ‘fun’. Kevin, who is terrified that I will get half way and call him to fly and pick up the car, will board a plane and meet us in New Brunswick. He’ll then drive us home, stopping to visit Quebec City and do some other exploring along the way…I’m sure we’ll be privied to all sorts of knowledge on our geological journey through the Canadian Shield.

There you have it my friends. The summer plans to solidify the kids Canadian-ness are written here, so I can’t easily change my mind when sanity kicks back in. The Instastories will either be epic or horrendous…stay tuned!