Growing up in the West, Toronto is heralded as all that is evil in Canada. A friend of mine even once called it "Our Nation's Asshole". The stereotype is that people don't talk to each other, are too busy, and anyone who lives there is only interested in making money.
When I decided to move to TO, I was pretty much convinced that I would hate it having been raised as a relaxed and laid-back Westerner. What I found there, was completely different than my expectations.
I immediately met a group of very open minded, arts loving, friendly people. Everyone I met was so open to new friendships and inviting new people into their world, that it was so easy to fit in right away. When I met Stephen, and moved from school to work I found another group of people that were instantly welcoming and accepting. I don't doubt that those people will be life-long friends no matter where in the world we live.
When we bought our house, we were nervous that we wouldn't have friendly neighbours as neither Steve nor I grew up in the city. What we found were people so happy to make connections within a city where people supposedly don't talk to each other. Our neighbours were such a varied and talented group of people from so many backgrounds from around the world, and we were all so happy to be living on our little street off of Roncesvalles.
I'm heading back to Toronto next weekend for a quick visit and so I threw an email out to my friends and colleagues to see if they wanted to meet up for lunch. I was so amazed to get an immediate excited response from so many of them. I feel so lucky to have such a close group of friends there that I can't even start to express it properly. Sometimes you don't realize how great you had it until you've taken a few steps back, and I can't wait to get a taste of it again next weekend.
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