Perception is everything.
When I first moved here from India, I was very quick to judge that Canadians lived lonely isolated lives, where no one knew their neighbours and no one ever popped by unannounced (the latter is still true and I am totally OK with that). The more I believed this the more isolated I became from my neighbours. Back home you counted on your friends, family and neighbours to help out and this made raising a child relatively easy. The down side to all this was that everybody knew everybody's business and that got quite irritating and down right hateful at times. Now that I'm raising Maya and managing my business from home a beautiful new world has been opening up and this has brought on a much needed change in perception. I have gotten to know so many of my neighbours and have enjoyed many impromptu play dates. I honestly can't remember the last time I walked to our car without stopping to have a chat with someone.
Once a week we have Taylor join us for a few hours while I get stuff done around the house. And this makes Maya sooooooo happy. She loves spending time with Taylor and babbles on with no end in sight while poor old Taylor listens patiently. I'm able to tidy up and get dinner ready while eavesdropping on the sheer hilarity that is a toddler trying to impress an 8 year old.
I am very happy to say that there is a warm and wonderful sense of community here and I am proud to be a part of it.
