Home Again

As an east-coaster-turned-Albertan, I am asked all the time if I ever go home.

In reality, I go home all the time. Edmonton is where my belongings and my mailing address are. Camp is where I spend 3/4 of my life for 9-10 months a year. Southern Oregon is where my people are patiently waiting to take me in whenever I need to go. 

But I know what they mean.

My heart, my childhood, my mom, and everything I knew until I was 19 years old is in Cape Breton. So when they ask their question, I give them an honest answer. No, I don't go home. I'm scared I won't come back, and I'm not done in the west just yet.

It's true: the leaving is the hardest part. Though this adventure is still one of the best decisions I've ever made for myself, every time I leave the east, I'm leaving all of that which is so important to me behind again. And it's rough.

There is one road connecting Cape Breton Island to mainland Nova Scotia. It's the Canso Causeway, and though it's only 244 metres (801 ft) long, it's an emotional roller coaster, no matter which direction you're travelling.

Here it is from the Cape Breton side...

...and here is me procrastinating on my departure back to Halifax to catch a plane to Alberta.

Seriously, ANYBODY would've stopped their car for this, right?

The truth of it might best be summed up by a quote I recently read by Miriam Adney:

"You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. that is the price you pay for the richness of knowing and loving people in more than one place."