I remember visiting Brockville when I first came to Canada from the US. I was living in downtown Toronto at the time, but my mother-in-law used to live here, so I visited often with my husband. I really fell in love with the area. It’s so beautiful and peaceful.
More than that, everybody was so nice and friendly. Walking up and down King Street, visiting all the little shops, meeting people, it was quite a difference from Toronto and from where I grew up. I knew I wanted to live in this area.
But we had a daughter and I knew she would have more opportunities if we stayed in Mississauga. I did tell my husband when we retired that we were moving to the Brockville area. Funnily enough though, our daughter now lives in Gananoque.
One of the big draws for us was the river. We love boating, love the islands, love being out there on the water. There’s so much to do if you get out there and look for it.
That being said, there are still things I miss about Toronto and Mississauga. I miss all the speciality food shops and restaurants and the variety in the stores. And especially the diversity of the people. On the plus side though, I stay home and cook more here, which helps save money.
Which is another thing, the cost of living here is so much more reasonable than Mississauga. My sister-in-law actually had to tell me to stop looking at the houses here with Toronto eyes, that some of the ones I thought were cheap were actually overpriced. In the end, we did find a great place at a fraction of what we would have had to pay in Mississauga. It makes up for some of the difficulty in getting things here. But still, I’m happy and am looking forward to learning and doing more here.