In early December in Saskatoon, the holiday lights went up without the accompaniment of snow. Despite the absence of the fluffy white blanket, I couldn’t help but admire our house once again.
The saying “Home is where the heart is” has always resonated with me. After three years in Canada, it feels like we have finally discovered a place to call our own.
The first time my husband, teenager, and I walked into the house during our house-hunting journey, we were captivated by the profusion of windows. Sunlight flooded in from all angles, casting a warm and welcoming glow in every room, even reaching the basement.
“This feels like home, Ma,” my child exclaimed, a smile I hadn’t seen in a while.
“And not a dentist’s office!” quipped the typical confident teenager, contrasting it with the other “perfect” houses we had visited.
This house, with its simple and cozy charm, boasted a front yard that gracefully stretched out and a backyard adorned with swaying poplar trees. And then, there were the windows.
Neither grand nor small, the house was just the right fit—perfect. It was love at first sight.
Recalling memories of my childhood home in India as I stood in our backyard surrounded by Christmas lights, I was struck by the similarity in the vast expanse of nature. That childhood home had a fragrant jasmine bush and towering sunflower plants in the front yard, while the backyard housed Mom’s kitchen garden—a place where my siblings and I once dug up the entire area to install a canal system, much to our mother’s dismay.
The past years since our move from Delhi to Saskatoon have been filled with uncertainties for my family. Our previous home in India, our first investment as a young couple, gave us a sense of ownership and control, allowing us to shape the space into something uniquely “ours.”
Compared to my childhood home in Delhi, which was an apartment with large windows and expansive balconies, our Indian abode was filled with memories as we transitioned from a couple to a family of three.
Leaving our home behind to relocate to Saskatoon felt like leaving a piece of our hearts, amplified by the transient nature of renting. Our rental apartment lacked a personal touch, with cold seeping in from outside, thin walls transmitting neighbors’ noises, and restrictions on drilling holes for decorations.
The upheaval of moving amid the COVID-19 pandemic only heightened the impermanence we felt in our rental space, leading us to purchase our current house in September. Now, as I sit in the comforting embrace of our new home in Saskatoon, I see not just bricks and mortar but the foundation of a new chapter in our lives.
The house has been instrumental in helping us settle in, as we fill the shelves with keepsakes and infuse the rooms with the essence of our lives. It is a place where we can create new memories, celebrate milestones, and establish roots in what was once a foreign land but now stands as our unmistakable home.
Saskatoon has transformed from a mere location on the map to a beacon of hope for us, teaching us that home is not just a birthplace but a deliberate choice.
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