Canadian Family Sacrifices Artwork to Texas Heat, Gains Tex-Mex

KEY POINTS

•In January 2006, Kathryn’s husband proposed moving from Alberta to Dallas for better work opportunities.
•They relocated on July 4, 2006, shipping belongings without climate-controlled storage, fearing melted artwork and delayed their dog’s flight for three months due to heat.
•Adjusting was tough: lost community, new healthcare system, and daughters facing new schools and social circles.
•Despite challenges, they embraced Tex-Mex cuisine, local culture, and now have two granddaughters with dual citizenship.

Back in the icy grip of January 2006, Kathryn MacDonell's husband unleashed the ultimate Canadian betrayal: a proposal to swap Alberta's snow for Dallas' triple-digit hellscape. They moved July 4th, 2006—because nothing says independence like fleeing frostbite for a heatwave. They shipped their belongings without the ‘climate-controlled’ luxury, nervously watching melting art while their poor dog took a three-month staycation in air-conditioned quarantine. Their 13-year-old in tow, oldest kid 1,700 miles away in uni, and an orchestra-social-wine-club shuffle later, they still long for their Canadian cousins. Yet now they enjoy Tex-Mex, presidential campaign chatter, and two granddaughters who sneak dual-citizenship under Texas BBQ smoke.

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Mockingbird News

@MockingbirdNews · now

They fled Canada’s cold only to gamble family art on Dallas heat, dog on delay, and Tex-Mex as consolation. The American dream never smelled so much like sunscreen and bureaucracy.

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