Home. A simple concept. Or it least it was until I moved to Saskatoon.

I’ve purposely resisted saying “back home”, choosing to say “back east” when referring to Halifax, or Nova Scotia, or really anywhere in the Maritimes since moving to Saskatchewan. I try to live a principle-based existence and one of the principles at the core of how I want to live is “home is where my feet are.” While that started out as mind over matter in the early days in Saskatoon, as the days turned to months, it became much less of a mindset and became a matter of the heart. And like all matters of the heart, it’s complicated.

My heart’s position on home got tested in June. Heading back to Nova Scotia for my sister’s wedding, it was the first time my wife and I had been back there together since we moved away in the spring of 2016. My heart at times ached. Like when I played the role of a magician and made my niece and nephew “disappear” to everyone at my wife’s brother’s house (the kids still don’t know how I pulled that one off). Or just hanging out with my mom and dad and catching up. An afternoon visit to play with the kids, a cup of tea with my mom or a pint and a hockey game with my dad were things I took for granted a couple of years ago. Now, they’re treasured, and at times like tonight in Saskatoon as I write this, missed.

But, and maybe a bit surprisingly to me, where my heart didn’t ache was the day or so my wife and I had just hanging around downtown Halifax in our old stomping grounds. Sure, I felt something walking into my old craft beer bar or during a stroll along the harbour, but that was nostalgia. It was memories. It was reminiscing. My heart was neutral. Whether it was over a beer in that favourite bar or talking to my wife about how I was feeling while sitting in the central library, it was becoming clearer to me. There was something very important there. But, aside from the people, it was the past.

Pardon the nod to music, but my mind often works in fragments of song lyrics. There’s a couple of lines of the Joel Plaskett song “Solidarity” that sums up where my heart is: “You find your people everywhere / They open up your mind.” The move to Saskatoon was, in its essence, to test ourselves, to try something new and to have some experiences that would enrich our lives. And in that process, I have found my people. I feel roots being established and anchoring me. A motley crew (in the kindest, best connotation of that expression) of folks I work with and friends I have made. Whether it’s grinding through a challenging problem at the office with people I respect deeply or sharing a night of laughter with my beach volleyball team… my people, minus my family, are in Saskatoon.

Home was there, in Halifax. Now, my feet, mind and heart are all in agreement. Home is Saskatoon. Writing that tonight, a smile has grown on my face. And I couldn’t be happier. Well, that’s maybe not quite true. If I could have a cup of tea with mom and a pint with my dad before a Blades game and do magic tricks for the kids in Nutana rather than in Beechville, that would be perfection. In lieu of perfection, I’ll build up some airline points flying back east as often as I can.