Dear Edmonton, I love you.

Where to begin? 4 years plus a few months ago we began life together in Edmonton. Dallas and I were recently married and excited to figure out what it meant to be Mr. & Mrs. We decided on Edmonton originally, if I remember correctly, because Dallas thought he would have luck finding work here. It was easy for me to transfer school and continue at the U of Calgary, Faculty of Social Work, Edmonton Division. I was eager to be near his family to get to know them better, and the housing situation that presented itself was a good fit at a time when rents were going up and we were very, um, strapped for cash. Who knew, at that time, that Edmonton would become home?

It is funny to look back to those first 2 years here, while I was still busy with school, Dallas was working on his apprenticeship as an electrician. Our monthly income was limited, but we enjoyed the city, old friends (Dallas’) and made new friends (Rachel & Dallas’). Somehow the last 4 years have flown by and though we are both excited to see what the future holds, it will not be easy to leave this city where we have jobs we enjoy and find fulfilling and countless other things to add to our general happiness.

The point of me getting back to blogging is, for now, to show YEG some love. We are approximately 3 weeks from moving away and I have been meaning to write these posts for months. Edmonton has been very kind and generous to us. We have always had work, reached personal goals (Rachel = BSW, Dallas = Red Seal), deepened old friendships and made new forever friends, grown, been challenged, and have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It is cathartic to put it to paper, or computer, I guess.

Just this week I was hit with the thought, “I wonder if Victoria will ever feel like home the way Edmonton does?” The city is familiar in the best way, comfortable and broken in like your favourite pair of jeans. It is exciting and nerve-wracking to think of the enormous amounts of change that are going to be occurring in our lives very shortly, and before I become entirely focused on staying above water through those things, I want to be intentional about remembering Edmonton. So check back over the next few weeks – I will procrastinate from packing and share the best of Edmonton, in my humble opinion.