Susannah Conway is one of my favorite bloggers and photographers because she is refreshingly real. I took her online Photo Meditations class and read and reviewed her wonderful book, This I Know: Notes on Unraveling the Heart. Now, I am taking her online class, Blogging from the Heart.

As you know if you’ve read my blog for awhile, I write about photography and what it means to live a contemplative life, often based on books I am reading and thoughts I am thinking. But, contemplation is not about thinking, it’s about experience. And writing about my experience is a little harder for me. With Susannah’s help, I’ll be sharing a little more of my heart and experience in my posts, beginning with this – my big move back home.

I am an explorer at heart – explorer of places, psyches, ideas.

Twenty-five years ago my husband and I were young – not quite 30 – and about to give birth to our first child. We’d both spent the previous seven years building our careers. I was getting ready to go on maternity leave and he was feeling a little restless in his job. An offer came to move to the U.S. (Green Bay, WI) from our home in Toronto. For some mad reason we decided to go for it.

This decision had consequences of course. We were now living far away from family and friends. I could not work without a green card, which took two years to get. We had to make a new home in an unfamiliar city and country with a brand new baby. After two years at home with my kids, the green card came but I did not go back to work. I raised my kids, volunteered, discovered a passion for photography and the environment, and started an online business.

Now, we have three grown children who are essentially American (although they have dual citizenship). We have American friends that we call family. We have lived in three different states.

So, what do we do now? We move again, this time back to Canada, to a place within spitting distance of where we both were born.

We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. – T. S. Elliot

It’s all a bit surreal. Our Canadian family and friends, with whom we have had a long distance relationship for 25 years, are now available to see much more easily. And, our beloved American family, our kids and friends, are no longer part of our day to day life. I never thought I would say this, but thank God for Facebook!

I am rediscovering this place I called home from birth to age 15. Many things take me back to my childhood – the lake, the Niagara Escarpment, and especially the fruit stands everywhere. The landscape dotted with vineyards reminds me of picking grapes on my great grandfather’s farm. His last name was Vine. It’s amazing how these things stay in your blood no matter how far away you go.

Related Reading

A Review of This I Know: Notes on Unraveling the Heart

Learn about Susannah’s Courses.