Reactions

Alan and I were pretty quiet about what we were doing when gathering the information and materials for the CIC application. I didn't even share with some of the people of whom I made requests (for letters and such). This was for two reasons: 1) I didn't want to have to manage people's reactions and answer a lot of questions when I was busy and anxious about completing the application. 2) If we are accepted and do move to Vancouver, it will be in about 2 years maybe; I don't want to have to deal with the "oh, I thought you had left already" comments all the time. Once one makes an announcement like this, people begin to write you off -- and our departure won't be for a while if it happens and it might not happen (if we're not accepted).

Since we have sent in the application and received AOR, we have been a bit more open. I really had expected to get some mildly shocked reactions or even arguments. Nope. Most people said things along the lines of, "makes sense." Some expressed desire to move there too, if they could -- and one really wanted to know more.

The only person who was a bit weirded out was my mother, but she's come around. Her focus is on the marriage issue. She completely accepts us as a married couple and is angry that the government in the U.S. does not recognize us. She believes that we will be better off in Canada.

What she hasn't really gotten over is USA-chauvinism. Don't get me wrong: she despises the current administration in D.C. But she has drunk the cool aid about the U.S.A. is the best of anything and everything. She clings to the past, specifically the "good parts" of the U.S. involvement in WWII (and still holds prejudices about "our enemies").

But, of course, even with WWII, there was a lot of ugliness. And, of course, there has been a lot of history since WWII. We are not even in a post-WWII society anymore; the USA is past that. And while there have been great advances in U.S. society, the U.S. has been moving backwards since 1980. Wealth has once again consolidated. The rate of incarceration in this country has skyrocketed. Those were two examples of domestic issues. Where to start with foreign policy? I can hardly think of anything good since WWII.

Mom, as is stereotypical of USA-ians, brings up healthcare, having been exposed to biased U.S. media on the subject. Very quickly, I shoot back, "oh, yes, because no one in the U.S. ever has problems with their insurance companies ... Can you name one person we know that has not had a fight with their insurance company? Not to mention that the number of uninsured in the U.S. equals or exceeds the entire population of Canada!" That pretty much closed that subject.

But we don't really discuss the differences between Canada and the U.S. anymore.