To be exact, it’s been 783 days since we filed for my Canadian Permanent Residence and I am happy to announce that it is official done. We have just walked out of the Immigration Centre in Windsor, Ontario, Social Insurance Number in hand.

I guess this makes me an expatriate; an American Citizen permanently living abroad, which is kind of cool. I’ve been thinking a lot about getting a tattoo to commemorate the experience. More on that later.

There’s been a lot of stress involved around this process, most notably the difficulty traveling back to the US. In a few weeks, when I have the official card in hand, I’ll be free to cross the border without fear of being turned away and having to restart the immigration process. That’s going to be a cathartic experience, finally going back to visit my family and friends.

Now that I’m all official, we can start thinking about normal, grown-up things like buying a house, and getting all of our stuff out of storage back in Illinois.