To Move Or Not To Move? That Is The Question...

Wowee...look at me rocking out two posts in one week. My meds must be aligned with the stars :) Or I must be totally recharged and refreshed from my and Mike's weekend alone!

Lately, we have been contemplating a move to Saskatoon.  Even though I have technically lived in PA all my life, S'toon has always, always felt more like home.  Because my grandparents live there, we spent most of our summers with them...swimming at the U of S Education or Riversdale pool, playing in their giant yard in Montgomery, shopping at the Salvation Army, watching the cows at the stockyards where the old Olympia Meats used to be....tons of memories.  And I did live a few years in S'toon while I was going to university.  Also, because my parents both grew up in S'toon as well, I've heard more stories about life there than in PA. I just feel so much more connected to that city than this one.  Faithful Avenue is even named after my great-grandfather who was Saskatoon Fire Chief :) And four of my family members are in the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame (Grandma, Aunty, Uncle and my dad)...there are only two of us in the PA Sports Hall of Fame (my brother and I).

When I look at our life in PA, it is a good one.  We are close to the lakes.  We can afford to be in one of the nicer areas.  Everything in town is only a five minute drive away...and that's with hitting every red light.  The downside to PA is...everything else.  All of my family and friends are in S'toon or Warman (except my parents but they would move if we did).  There are no decent restaurants to go to when you want a nice meal.  S'toon has better parks and activities throughout the year.  There are more shopping and entertainment options.  S'toon is just...better.

And, honestly, I'm just sick of all the low-class citizens that infiltrate every part of this city.  It is not a race thing at all...lack of class/manners happens in every race and PA is just full of, well, redneck hillbillies.  People who don't give a shit about what they look like in public.  Or who think it is acceptable to carry on a conversation across the waiting room in the loudest voice possible.  People who just have no social decency whatsoever.  It's depressing to be surrounded by slobs.

I realize that there are slobs in every city.  But it just seems like in Saskatoon, you can avoid a lot of that because of the divisions in town.  And therein lies the problem.  While we can afford a great neighbourhood here, we wouldn't be able to afford one in S'toon.  When we bought this house, we scooped it at a low enough price that we were able to also renovate it exactly to our liking before we moved in.  Pretty sure that's not going to happen in a S'toon house and I really don't want to live in some 1970s dive with the original orange carpeting.  We can't live in a condo (nor would we want to) and we also don't want one of those cookie cutter houses in Stonebridge that have no garage or driveway.

I know for my mental health, Saskatoon would be hugely beneficial.  Being closer to my friends and family would only have a positive impact.

And I have to leave it at that for now, because Miss K just took off down the hall with her play scissors and yelled something about bangs for Andrew.