Thank you so much Lisa for having me share my thoughts of what "Going Home" means to me. When Lisa wrote her post about Going Home to New Brunswick it struck a chord with me. It really got me thinking about what "Going Home" means.
I grew up in Toronto where I took the subway to school and walked everywhere. We moved out of the city to the big, bad (well, not really so bad) suburbs four years ago and I still self-identify as being from Toronto when anyone asks. But is Toronto home or just where I grew up? Why am I so nostalgic for the YYZ? Here's a flavour of what makes me smile when I am thinking of Toronto ...
I used to travel more than I do now and I remember flying into Toronto and feeling the mix of comfort and excitement as the plane circled the city before landing.
The subway. Yep, the good 'ol TTC makes me nostalgic for where I grew up. There is something about the noise, the door chimes and the musty damp smell. Weird - perhaps. But familiar. Although the automated voice announcing the stops is kinda lame. I liked it better when the conductors could put their own spin on things with announcements.
One of the things I am passionate about is making sure my kids know their way around public transit. Several times a year we head downtown on a combination of the VIVA bus, the subway or GO Train. Sure it takes longer but it's an adventure in reading maps, transferring stations, figuring out which platform to go to and consulting schedules. And I make 'em walk too (I love walking!).
Trees. Toronto has fantastic trees that create canopies in the summer and colourful collages in the fall. I grew up on a street with tons of trees and played in parks that were full of greenery.
Fortunately for me when I moved to the burbs I didn't move to a neighbourhood that looked like this:
My current street has all the features I love about Toronto trees - big, leafy and gorgeous!
At the end of the day home is where the people you love are. I'm lucky to be raising my little family in such a special place. And I'm lucky that I can walk them to school like this ... that's what going home is now for me.
What a great shot Sarah - I love it. You hit on so many of the things I love about Toronto, especially all those big tree-lined streets. It really is such a green city, I always marvel at how lucky we are. I'm glad you get to enjoy it in your new home! Thanks so much for your post. :)
If you missed them, here are the other posts in this series:
my original post,
