Last year, home for the holidays meant a visit to Montevideo, Minnesota - staying in Brian's childhood home, visiting with family and friends, enduring blistering cold weather familiar to anyone who grew up in the prairies - be it on the US or Canadian side of the border. We returned to our home before and rang in the New Year in our relatively (balmy) new home in the Athlete's Village, Vancouver, dreaming of what 2014 would bring.
I must say, 2014 brought much more than either of us could have anticipated. The year started out rather uneventfully, regardless of being quite full with a Masters degree and full time work for me and Brian busy with work and beginning training for his first ultra marathon.
In March, I sent an email that would change the course of our lives. Over time, Brian and I had come to the realization that no matter what steps we took to make it work for us, Vancouver would never be "home". One evening I noticed a job posting at Vermont Energy Investment Corporation and knew it was the perfect fit for him. I emailed him to check the iPad when he got home from work, on which I'd left the posting open. He knew the company, and following our vacation in Vermont in 2013, we knew the place was aligned with our future, too. After much discussion, he applied; at the end of a two-month process, he got the job!
Life changed immediately. He was allowed a two-month transition before starting, giving us a several-weeks-long period of undoing everything we'd started in Vancouver, plus applying for my US permanent residency - required before I could officially join. Sadly, the process was expected to take 11-12 months and we never really knew how we'd make that work. Onwards, however. We'd figure out something.
In mid-July, when Brian had to move to start work and begin the re-establishment of US domicile required for his sponsoring me for a spousal green card, it seemed unreal. Our paths would be separating for an undetermined amount of time. I watched as Brian drove off with our cat (my new place didn't allow pets), our (my old) car, and most of what the moving truck hadn't packed up in tow, and I settled into my temporary accommodations with two suitcases of belongings plus Brian's bicycle (mine had been stolen in springtime).
Life was lived separately, with a distance of thousands of miles and three hours' time difference. I began managing an Acute Care of the Elderly unit, once again working with the population that I love so much. Brian thrived in his new job and found new passion in working for a purpose he deeply cares about. Throughout this separation, though, there were many ups and downs, but we were always together. We bought a 120-year-old Cape Cod in Burlington, we worked through each stage of the immigration process (file a document, wait a month or two, then file another; repeat), and we did our best to connect over time and distance.
During my sole trip out in late September, we upturned half our yard to make way for what would come when spring returns. Brian completed his ultra marathon. We did what we could with two weeks together. Then we separated once again, still so uncertain of when this would end. Brian visited Calgary and Edmonton with me over Canadian Thanksgiving. More time passed.
In late October, we received word that my case was completed and I was scheduled for an interview at the US Consulate in Montreal for early December! As we'd miss our two-year anniversary in the meantime, we extended the Montreal trip into a 5-day weekend and celebrated together in gorgeous Quebec City ahead of the long-awaited interview.
December 9, the big day, arrived. After hundreds of pages of documents filed, police checks, a comprehensive medical exam, after a brief interview I was accepted. Then things moved quickly. The same day I returned to Vancouver, Brian to Burlington. Ten days later, visa in hand, job resigned, and remaining possessions packed into a suitcase plus a box, I flew to Montreal. Brian picked me up. An hour later we crossed into upstate New York. After an hour of paperwork, fingerprints, etc. at the border, the friendly CBP officer processing my documents declared, "Welcome; you're now a resident of the United States."
5+ months apart were over, incidentally MUCH less than originally feared - we were lucky to get through the process so quickly! All of the paperwork, interviews, resignations, and goodbyes behind us, WE have begun anew. Just in time for Christmas.
Life is so different this Christmas, and I am not sure that we could have even imagined what it would have been like last year. Indeed, it is more magical than we could have imagined. We hung our stockings over our fireplace. OUR fireplace. Our tree was too tall for the house, so we improvised and took out a section. We bundle up to face the snow and cold (OK - it's not that cold, but after living in Vancouver for almost five years...). We put up Christmas lights outside. And now we dream of what life in 2015 will bring.
