Changes

When I got off the bus this morning near work, I became aware of this strange new sense I had of the city. I’ve lived in Toronto-proper (as opposed to “Greater Toronto”) for nearly 11 years now. For all that time, I’ve been renting. I would have told you before that there’s no difference between owning and renting in terms of how you view the place you live, but this morning I felt it.

Admittedly, I’m not there yet, but I’m on the verge of home ownership. A few more things have to happen and then it’s official. But so much, so many big important steps have been accomplished, that I’ve started thinking in a new way. So while I was walking, and glancing up at the skyscrapers, I suddenly had a very real sense of attachment to the city. I’m in the process of putting down definite roots here. I have a stake in the place I can’t just pull up at a moment’s notice and float away to somewhere else from. There’s gravity and some permanence to what I’m doing now. I’m going to own some little part of Toronto, and all the infrastructure that accrues to it, instead of just borrowing it month to month from someone else. Like I said, I wouldn’t have believed there’d be a difference. Home is home. But I’m beginning to sense that there is. It’s a small, but real, revelation. It’s empowering. I wonder if, and how, it will change my outlook. I just hope it doesn’t prompt me to become some conservative old curmudgeon.

I like being a liberal old curmudgeon, thank you very much. :)