I have been happier in the last couple of months. I am simply content, more easy going, more positive. Nothing has changed for better or worse. Life is pretty much the same. I couldn't think of anything that could possibly have caused the change.

My mom arrived in the US tonight. She will be here in a month. I was talking to her on the phone tonight and suddenly realized that was it! I want/need to be close to my family. Doesn't everyone? well, almost everyone?

This is one thing we tend to take for granted. The joy of being able to pick up the phone and call family/friends without worrying about the time difference or booking a ticket to Calgary to be with family for the Christmas or simply driving to Toronto on a Saturday to have supper with mom.

I thought being an immigrant has deprived me of simple joys of life and has given me the "luxury" of basic human rights I was denied in my own country.