Taxes, land, vehicles, the cost of almost everything. The practical questions kept coming over the past two weeks, the way they always do.

The biggest thread of the period was about none of that. It was about wanting a friend.

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IN THE COMMUNITY​
The biggest thread of the period started as a simple idea. A weekly video coffee chat, so from-aways could actually make some friends.

The answer was immediate and almost unanimous. More than a hundred replies and reactions came in fast. People volunteered before they knew a single detail. Inside the thread, members began arranging their own meetups, on the South Shore, in Antigonish, around Digby.

That is why the first Landing Table call is happening on June 21. I did not invent it. The group asked for it out loud.

Right beside it ran the harder version of the same feeling. Do you ever think about moving back to where you were before?

Sixty-four people answered and the range was the whole of it. Some said never, this is home. Some are staying and still grieving the people and the life they left. Some would leave if they could afford to and cannot. A few are already going, one of them on the very day she commented.
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One reflection stayed with me. Here is how Mary put it:

Mary is not alone in that. The home people picture going back to is rarely the home that is still standing.

The practical questions never stopped, of course. A retiree shopper was blindsided by the non-resident deed transfer tax. Buyers from last year opened property tax bills that had reset to market value, a few of them doubled. Remote workers swapped warnings about Nova Scotia income tax and the December 31 residency rule. People compared notes on buying a vehicle in a province that is famously hard on them.

The surprises keep coming. They always do.

Underneath all of it, the same scouting-trip story played out twice. Someone visits for ten or eleven days, falls completely in love, and starts planning a life here. The replies come warm and then careful. Visiting and living are different things. Check the healthcare situation before you fall too hard.

Maybe that is the real theme of the last couple weeks. We pour so much energy into deciding whether Nova Scotia is the right place. The question that actually settles it is quieter. Will you be okay here. Will you find your people.

The ones who land well seem to arrive ready to be uncomfortable for a while and ready to go looking for each other.

Back in two weeks,

Kristina