Through Life's Changes - Leece Family Edition - A Family Matters Magazine Feature

As some of you may know, I have been publishing Family Matters Magazine, since 2013.  In the publication, I share stories of Milton families.  Families like yours and mine with journeys and lessons to share.  In addition to the cover family, sometimes, my Real Estate clients choose to share their story as well.  

The Leece family were one of my seller clients in Bronte Meadows in Milton.  It is an honour to have a platform like this, where they can share their story.  It is written by Nicole Leece, I hope you enjoy it..

When I was just 8 years old, my family and I moved to the suburb of Milton. My
mother had heard about this little town from her uncle who lived there with his
family. He told her that was great for small families (like ours) and perfect for my
dad to make his commute to his relocated job in the GTA. Of course, at that time,
42 years ago, Milton wasn’t really considered part of that title(the GTA) because it
just was a small community of almost 30,000 people. Once my mom and dad
FINALLY came to Milton and found us a home, they loved it, and couldn’t wait to
start living in such a wonderful new place.
Growing up in Milton was simply perfect. Spring and summer time came with
excitement for me and my siblings as we could not wait to get our bikes out and
ride around the crescent with friends. Also, visits to our neighbourhood park in
Bronte Meadows, were so much fun for my mom to take us too as well. Then the
beautiful backdrop of the Niagara escarpment felt like pure bliss when autumn
would roll around, and there were the nearby apple orchards for my family to go
apple picking in the fall.
My mom and dad made friends quickly and they ended up meeting a lot of great
people around our street. Neighbours were made to always feel like family at our
house and my sister, brother and I made them honorary aunts, uncles, and
cousins. To this day, 42 years later, those same people remain as an extension of
my family.
Not only did my husband Tom and I have wonderful upbringings here, but we also
ended up meeting there too. In front of the same park, I frequented as a child,
was where I met him. Then, after dating for some time, he proposed to me ,
under the moon light in front of one of Milton’s favourite gathering spots in the
middle of town; the Mill Pond. Our wedding was at the Main Street church that is
St. Paul’s United. All of our sweetest memories together, would always include
our beloved Milton. When we had our son, we knew that raising him here, was
certainly no argument between with either of us. So in 2005, we bought our
home on Woodlawn Cres; the SAME street I moved to when I moved there when I
was 8! I knew it was the best decision we made for our little family, which then
grew by 1 more in 2011 with the arrival of our daughter.
Here are some of the places and memories listed that I will always remember
Milton for and that have left the best memories forever for me:

1. Milton Fair Grounds. Many times during my youth were spent at the
Milton Fall Fair; riding all the rides, eating all the sweet treats and then
taking in the Derby later on. Plus, the Strawberry fair to fundraise for the
hospital and the infamous Steam Era on Labour Day weekend.
2. St Paul's United Church. From childhood Sunday school to getting married
in 1998; St. Paul's has been a sweet and lovely community church that is a
majestic sight when travelling down Milton’s main street.
3. Kelso Conservation Area. From hiking, swimming, skiing and even the odd
guide camping trip; the Niagara Escarpment and Kelso it one of Milton’s
best all season playground.
4. Original Milton with the inner square roads: Thompson Rd-Derry Rd-Bronte
Rd-Steeles and back to Thompson. Everything in this square is the Milton I
grew up to know and love. All the shopping we ever needed was inside of
this square including the Milton Mall with Zellers, both arenas, the Go
Station and Main Street. The Santa Claus parades original route always
started on Bronte, went along Main then ultimately finished at the mall.
Those memories are one of the best ever around Christmas time for me.
5. Milton used to be a community that wherever you happen to go for
errands, you would always run into someone you knew. You would chat for
awhile then remember exactly why you went out in the first place.
However, stopping to catch your breath with an old friend in the grocery
store was just what your soul needed at that moment. Now, being one of
Canada’s fastest growing communities, it has grown a little too big to have
that small town feel anymore.
Milton has and will be the best little communities and we always love what it gave
to us ; our childhood, then dating to raising our 2 children here as well
Many big community changes in Milton over the years and living through COVID,
we then made the hard decision to move. We knew that working from home was
an option for Tom, so we were able to move somewhere outside of Milton, and
maybe even the province. That’s when we set our sites on New Brunswick, and
more specifically, Fredericton. We searched online on realtor for home in and
around Fredericton, and we came up with the home we ended up buying.

We had got a very good price for our home in Milton and that allowed us to buy a
home 3 times the size of our previous one for half the price. So much more bang
for your buck, you would say!
Yes, we left a community that we knew and loved for most our lives. We also left
family and friends behind too. However, our home journey was made for us, and
it is definitely not for the faint of heart for sure. We wanted an adventure and we
sure got one.
We now love being Maritimers, and it has allowed us a calmer and more peaceful
way of life and we wouldn’t change that for anything! However, Milton, Ontario
will always have our hearts and when we always come back to visit, our memories
will remain and remind us of how much of a wonderful place it was and had been
to grown up and live in for most of our lives.

www.familymattersmagazine.ca

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