This is my story on how we came to be in Canada,
We is myself, my husband Nick, and our 8 year old daughter Jessica.
I will be as honest as i possibly can and try to keep it updated as we go along, so that it gives a true picture of what to expect, and how I, as a long haul truck driver's wife coped, didn't cope and felt in certain situations, so that it may help others in deciding if this is for them.
We had been talking about it on a off for a number of years, and we were set for Nick to apply to be a truck driver in 2009. Then my eldest son told us we were going to be grandparents, and the year after he was getting married.
I didn't want to come to Canada without seeing my first grandchild, and certainly didn't want to miss the wedding, plus we wanted to help out financially so Canada was put on the back burner.
The wedding took place in October 2010, and Canada was then looked into for 2011.
Nick and I attended an interview in Newcastle (Feb 2011) with a company in Alberta, who were recruiting in the UK. It seemed to be a decent deal, the guy was nice and friendly and told us the downsides as well as the good sides, and we decided that this is what we were going to go for if accepted.
A few weeks after the interview Nick was given a job offer with the company and was to originally go in April 2011. Jessica and I were to follow a few months later.
We moved in with Nick's parents so that we could save easier, as our house was rented, so got rid of all our furniture and kept nothing but our personal stuff and clothing.
To cut a long story short Nick had found some long lost family who he wanted to meet, so we decided to do this before he left for Canada, and the summer was spent visiting, with Nick planning to go in November 2011. The Alberta based company were fine with this.
November came round all too quickly and it was time for him to leave (after a farewell meal with all our close family & friends & a night out with all his friends). All the documentation he needed was couriered to him a couple of weeks before, and myself, Jessica and Nick's parents all accompanied him to the airport.
I have got to admit that was the worst bit for me!!! I felt like my heart had been ripped out when I arrived back home, and Jessica was inconsolable in the car on the way back from the airport. we hugged and cried, then hugged and cried some more.
For the first couple of weeks she slept with a jumper he had left behind as she could smell her daddy on it !!
NICKS LEAVING MEAL
NIGHT OUT WITH FRIENDS
He then had to go for the drugs test, classroom lessons and sit his test for HGV again. We kept in regular contact via skype and without this I'm sure i would have begged him to come home after about a week. It is a Godsend for keeping in touch with loved ones across the miles!!!
Nick was then sent on his mentor trip and told me previously that he may be out of touch for a couple of weeks due to lack of internet. I knew this was going to be hard, not being able to speak and not knowing if he was OK. He did purchase a cheap cell phone in Canada, but this didn't work in the USA, so he bought one in the USA which didn't work in Canada and had to switch from one to the other. Seeing as they were pay and go they cost a fortune to run so we only used as and when needed.
His mentor trip was completed after about 8 days, with a great mentor named Patrick. He was really good and helped Nick a lot, and was there for Nick even after the trip was over.
It was now time for Nick to go it alone, and you can follow that on his own blog http://nick1975claret.blogspot.ca/2011/11/pastures-new.html
It was now December and Christmas was fast approaching us. It was really strange to be sorting thing on my own, and i felt a bit like a one parent family. I still had my two sons who were staying in England, as they have their own lives. One of them, the oldest is married with a baby, and two step-children, the other is 20 and lives with his girlfriend, so they are both settled.
Sometimes i must admit that I didn't know if i could leave with them staying in England, but then i had to put my sensible head on, and realise it was the best thing for the three of us, a new life, a better way of life. My boys were old enough to fend for themselves, and had their own choices to make, and could quite easily decide to move themselves to somewhere totally different in the future. I miss them lots, but there will be visits, and plenty skyping.
Christmas day came, and it was so strange Nick not being there to open presents with us all !!! we had dinner at his parents as we usually did, and spoke to him a lot of the time on skype as he was on the road, but it was hard, and it must have been more so for him, all on his own, not being there with his little girl and family. My heart felt for him.
The same really goes for New Year. Stayed in with his dad, my youngest son, Nick's sister, brother in law, nephew, and spoke to Nick via skype. Another difficult one, but we kept going with the 'it will all be worth it in the end, it's just the once'.
We had two more of these difficult occasions, Nick's birthday in January, and Jessica's at the beginning of February.
We decided that in March i would go out for 2 weeks to Alberta, to look around, get some idea of what it was like and get a feel for the place and areas we would like to live. Originally it was just going to be myself, but as it drew closer i couldn't stand the thought of Jess not coming!!! It was as much her new life too, she had some input in all of this, plus i could not deprive her of seeing her daddy, nor him her.
I had met another woman via the ex-pats forum in a similar position and her husband was at the same company as Nick, so we decided to travel out together.
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