Sometimes You Wanna Go Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Well I'm not sure if they'll be glad we're coming or not but regardless, here we come!! Back to Newfoundland that is. Yay!

Yes, we have big news and I haven't been keeping anyone posted on my blog due to the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day and I seem to require many more than that lately.

Here's the story:
I've always said that I'd like to move back to Newfoundland given the right opportunity. I wasn't sure that moving HOME (as in Bonne Bay) was exactly in the plan but that's the way it's happened. A while back we heard the community convenience store may be going up for sale. This is the same convenience store where, as children, we bought potato chips for 45 cents, made the old man grumpy when we asked him to count out 100 of those 1 cent sour candies, where I ran to get odds and ends for Aunt Thelma to earn a meager 25 cents commission. It's the place my dad has always said he wanted to own one day. And with the combined effort of my dad wanting to own a business and me wanting to move our family back, we've purchased "Roy Young's Ltd."

We are keeping the original name of the store. Roy Young moved to Bonne Bay after WWII where, I'm told, he fought on the front battle lines. He decided to build this store and did so practically with his own 2 hands, as was the case in those days. Because of the history of the original owner and the building I feel that it is best for our community to maintain the name as "Roy Young Ltd" and I plan to make sure visitors to the store will see a photo of Mr. Young and read his story. I'm very excited about maintaining this piece of history! I will keep you posted as I find out more about this particular part of my upcoming business venture.

I have to say I'm very nervous about the move. I grew up in this small town of only about 1000 people but after living in Ontario for 11 years I realize it's going to be a big adjustment for us. It's an adjustment I'm looking forward to, however, and recognize that there are trade-offs. There is good and bad no matter where you are.

Trade-offs:
Everyone in a small town may know your business but they also know your name and smile and wave when they see you.

There may not be a lot of extra-curricular activities for Sarah in terms of dance classes and soccer but she will now have the freedom to run outside and play and learn about nature in a way that city dwellers could never imagine.

We are leaving some family behind here in Ontario (most sadly for me, my sister and her 3 girls)but we are joining family back home, most importantly Sarah's grandparents on both mine and Jamie's side. I grew up close to my grandparents, I wish the same for Sarah.

We will not have access to conveniences like fast food (Tim's is about 45 minutes away and McD's over an hour) but Sarah will learn, as I did, about growing her own veggie garden, picking her own berries, and baking her own sweet treats in grandma's kitchen.

We will have a much shorter summer but we will now have access to a full range of winter snowy sports...oh, how I miss snowmobiling! And we don't have to drive an hour in the country to get to trails, we park our skidoos in the front yard and drive off to trails in our back yards! And our short summers are beautiful and fresh and full of hustle and bustle in a community with a WORLD HERITAGE SITE on our doorstep to attract lots of tourists from all around.

And let's not forget my absolute #1 reason for missing home so much - the ocean!! There is nothing even close here in Ontario (the area I'm in at least) that can compare to breathing that air. I look forward to waking up and seeing the ocean every morning and pray to never take it for granted again!

Weight off My Shoulders
It's all happening so fast! Sarah and I leave to fly out next Monday, Oct 22nd. I have so much to do, so much to pack, so much to organize before I leave. I have a HUGE list of To-Do's and I'm not sure where I'm going to find the time to accomplish everything. But at least we've sold the house. We put it on the market last Tuesday and had sold it by Sunday. What a relief! We close on December 14th which works out perfectly for Jamie. His last day of work is Dec 20th (I think?) and he'll drive home just in time for Christmas. He'll also be driving the SUV down in November for me to have a vehicle and also to bring more of our things that I won't have room to bring on the plane.

Missing Daddy
In the meantime, it's going to be very hard not having Jamie with Sarah and I. I get all choked up just thinking about him not seeing her and how much she's going to grow in the next 2 months. He's even going to miss her 1st Halloween! I honestly can't even imagine not seeing Sarah for nearly 2 months. Maybe it's a little different for mommies but my daily world would feel empty now without her. And so the thought of Jamie being here and us being in Nfld is difficult for me. I'll be bombarding him with pictures for sure!

Business Matters
Right now what we're working on is adding a bakery to the store. Mom and Dad have been working their butts off trying to get everything into place. It's hard not being there to help them out and I know it's going to be very busy when I arrive home. We have to finalize permits, renovate, purchase equipment, the list goes on and on. Hopefully it'll all come together soon although I anticipate lots of snags and issues we haven't necessarily thought of because let's face it, we haven't done this before and don't really know exactly what to expect. So wish us luck!!

Maternity Leave
I just wish to clarify, I am NOT putting in my notice at work. I will be staying on maternity leave and taking this time as an opportunity to go home, staying behind the scenes, and making sure things work out before making it permanent. I know I'm talking and sounding very permanent. That's because I'm excited and confident this will work out for us. But I also have to be cautious so I'm not taking any chances at disrupting my maternity pay or destroying my backup plan to go back to my current job if need be. I have until March, I'll let ya know before I'm due back.

Miss Sarah
On a non-business note, I took the baby girl to the doctor yesterday because she was having lots of sniffles and a bad cough. It wasn't persistent but it was enough to worry me a little bit. Doc thinks she has, in his words, "a bit of croup". It's not serious and apparantly it's quite common for babies to get but it's still making me very concerned, especially now that we're leaving to go home next week. But my doctor did give me lots of meds knowing about our trip to Nfld, meds which Sarah hates taking and which make me nostalgic about my own childhood sniffles and taking penicillin that actually tasted good. Sarah's super dopey today but hopefully she'll be feeling better very soon.

Name?
I'd like to leave you with a little project -- anyone have any suggestions for bakery names?