My family and I are moving back to my hometown to be closer to my parents. We're giving it a year to see how it goes.

• I've been away from my hometown for 15 years, since I was 25 years old. • My parents are getting older, and on my last visit back to the Gold Coast, something shifted for me. • My husband and I decided to move back for a year to be closer to my family and see how it goes.

When I was younger, a friend invited me to move to Canada for six months to work as a waitress in Banff. I jumped at the opportunity, and within a couple of months, I'd resigned from my job in journalism, sold most of my worldly possessions, and said farewell to my friends and family.

I'll never forget that feeling of driving out of my hometown of the Gold Coast, Australia, toward Brisbane, where I was departing from. I was 25 years old at the time, and so excited about the prospect of living abroad and setting ou