If you lived here, you would be home now

Anyone who has ever been to the Halifax Shopping Centre is currently visualizing the little wooden sign on the front lawn of that old apartment building right across the road from HSC. Am I right? That little sign really summarizes my feelings on the North these days.

Recently I have felt a sense of "hominess" around the YK area.

Before we made the big move, it seemed like such a humongous deal that I was moving... North of 60. It was this wild, crazy, wonky adventure to be moving to a land shrouded in mystery and magic. Now that I live here and am in the whole Northern groove of things, it really doesn't seem like anything extra special. It's just home, it's where I live.

I will tell you all this, in the South, the North is highly misunderstood or not understood at all on any level. I have spent a lot of time mulling over what the heck is so different about the South from the North? What is it that happens when you cross that magical line that separates South from North? I believe one factor is the maintenance of tradition and culture.

Of course there are many modern influences in the North, however in how many towns in Southern Canada will you find someone walking down the road in winter, dressed head to toe in animal furs and skins? Or in a beautiful traditional parka or amutiq? There is really nowhere else that I can think of in Canada where citizens routinely wear "traditional" garments from times past.

In the Maritimes we have the iconic yellow Sou'wester hat, I am pretty certain that even fishermen do not wear those regularly.

I know that living here has broadened my outlook on society a great deal. When I left my Nova Scotia nest, it was the hardest thing I had ever done. Of course, I felt that I was a worldly and educated young woman, heck I had been to Europe. Leaving all that I knew to "go west" was incredibly painful, uprooting myself from my family, friends and life in general. Looking back at all the places I have visited and things that I have learned in the past three years I am so happy to have done it, all in my own country. (Well, except for all those outlet shopping trips to WA of course! Wink, wink!)

My name is Natalie, I live in YK and I am home.
Life is good.