The Toronto Transition Is Now Complete

Has it been over six months already? Where did the time go since we left our house in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to move back to the big city of Toronto?

When you include kids, selling a house, packing four people’s lives up and everything else involved, the Toronto transition was easily the biggest change I have experienced.

Well thanks to a few events from the past week, I am happy to say, the transition is complete. The chapter is over. It’s time to move to the next act.

What events do I speak of?

Well it all started with Katie getting the job that started the whole move. Then getting the kids settled. Then finding somewhere to live.

See where this is going?

The only piece left was for me to find a job.

I started slowly looking for the perfect gig. A few interviews here and there, but really, I spent my summer with the boys, getting them happy with living in a new place.

It was not until late August that I started truly looking every day.

Then we moved to our new place.

I had interviews, but the process was going slow. At least I had a new home to put together and making sure Harry got all situated with school.

Of course I had Charlie to keep  me very busy.

With each interview, there came crazy planning just to make the interviews. There was the painful waiting to hear the good or bad news.

Then it seemed to always go back to square one.

On top of this, I had to keep child care spots within ear shot, in case something happened.

There were a lot of balls in the air.

But everything went according to a rough timeline I had in my head. Summer with kids, get settled in new place, get Harry into school and get us to the change to cold weather.

Then it was time to go back to work, pass the kids over to professionals, and get back into the real world.

Guess what. That time has come.

Yep, as of Dec. 1, I will be burning my stay-at-home-dad pants and going back to work.

I am leaving the house, Charlie is going to full-time daycare and Harry will be spending his pre and post school time at his school’s daycare.

Boom, boom, boom, done.

Back to that job. Not only did I manage to hold out for a good job. Timing, luck and a good track record landing me a really great job.

I will be taking on the Director of Marketing role at a software company downtown. It is going to be a  lot of work, but I am totally excited and a perfect fit.

I am going from stroller to streetcar. Diapers to deadlines. Well you know the drill.

The final piece of the Toronto transition is in place. Duel incomes again. Much needed time for the boys away from dad. It’s all good.

Then for it all to come pretty much at the same time as Katie passing her six month probation period at the U of Toronto, it was the perfect way to end this chapter.

Starting in December, it’s a whole new life. It is a life in Toronto with a family, a job, a place to live and all the extras that we have built on our own.

I think to do all that in six months is pretty impressive and pretty typical if you know Katie and I. We like to go on long stretches of no change, that blow up the model and change everything.

So far so good.

Harry loves school, he is playing soccer, going to birthday parties and loving his new life in this city.

Charlie, well he is the best little brother going. I have been so lucky to have a second six month journey with him. That is a year of his life he has spent with me every day. I will never forget it.

Katie, well she won’t admit it, but I can see her shoulders standing up a little straighter. She has been working her ass off, being the one going out each and every day to support this family. I appreciate it. I appreciate that she never once made it feel like less of a role to stay home. We don’t talk about it much, but it is cool to see that we have each other’s back no matter what.

So in a few weeks when it all becomes official, we can start fresh. It does not matter if there are colds, snowstorms, upset tummies, sleepless nights or any other thing to shake up the norm, we are living in the present. We have reached a new baseline in our new home, in our revisited city and with our oldest friends and closest family.

Having a five and two-year old is a lot of fun. Imagining the next few years and what changes are coming, it will be even more fun.

The Halifax life is missed, but we can finally move on from the amazing times we had on Red Fern.

I miss the house, the people and a few other eating joints. I miss the ocean. I miss the bridges. But I have to say, I am happy that whatever bad things happened to light the fire that started where we are now, I am glad it burned.