Tearful embraces at the airport still remain a vivid memory in Gillian McAuley's mind as she recalls the moment she boarded a plane with her family to start a new life in Canada at the age of six.
A move partly brought about because of the Troubles engulfing the country at the time, the family decided to pack up their home in Carrickfergus and move across the Atlantic to forge a new life.
But despite being so young when she emigrated, the draw of Northern Ireland always remained strong for Gillian.
READ MORE: Community worker on how tea and apple tart helped the peace process
Every year she returned to visit, many times on her own, and in the back of her mind there was a voice wondering if this place could ever be home again.
It was then after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 that the possibility of making the move became real.
Fast forward to today and Gillian is now the President of the NI Chamber of Commerce and happily settled in Ballyclare with her husband Lyle and their teenage sons Jacob, 17, and Elliott, 14.
The stability and change brought about in Northern Ireland by the signing of the Good Friday Agreement was the key thing for bringing Gillian home and now she heads around the world to shout about the great achievements of her beloved home country.
Speaking to Belfast Live ahead of the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Gillian explained her journey home and how she has never looked back.
"I finished university, had a job, was working in Canada and coming back on holidays but could never have justified moving back because of the Troubles, the economy," she said.
"I came back more in the later 90s and the Celtic Tiger was starting to take off in the Republic, so the economy was picking up a bit. I distinctly remember seeing my parents at Easter and going to church with them and hearing the minister praying because the Good Friday Agreement had just been signed and praying for peace and prosperity for Northern Ireland.
"It was a real moment when I thought, I wonder will it be better and is this a moment then I could think about moving back there."
It started a thought process which ended with Gillian returning home in May 2001.
"I had come over on holiday the year before and decided I am going to do this, I am going to have a go at this," she said.
"I asked my boss for a leave of absence, which he very kindly gave me, just for a year to try this because I thought a year might be different from being on holidays, will I really like it.
"Very quickly I knew this was home for me and that this is where I would want to be. So I moved back to Carrickfergus and got a job and here I am 22 years later."
Her parents - Jean and Leslie Gardiner - had been bringing up Gillian and her younger brother Jonathan in Carrickfergus when they made the difficult decision to leave family behind and flee the Troubles for a better life in Canada. Gillian's mum, who was originally from Ballycastle, had family out there.
"We lived in Carrickfergus and emigrated when I was six in the 70s and really for a couple of reasons, one partly to do with the Troubles and partly because my mum had a lot of family out there so we emigrated to them in Toronto initially and then lived in a small town in Ontario, where my dad worked," she said.
"That's where I really grew up until I went to university and then I went to a little town called Port Elgin, a lovely little town on the shore of one of the great lakes and then I went to university in Toronto and went out to Vancouver to the University of British Columbia to do law degree up there. That's where my parents still live, they ended up moving out to Vancouver.
"I lived out there but travelled back here quite a lot starting when I was 11, I used to fly back on my own to see my granny.
"I just was always really homesick, I loved Canada I am quite a proud Canadian but was always homesick for here somehow. I have one younger brother, he was four, so he is a very settled Canadian and still lives in British Colombia. So very strange I just kept coming back."
In the end the pull of home was too much for Gillian to ignore and despite some reservations from her family, she made the move.
She added: "It is strange and my poor parents are saying what are you doing, why are you going back there, we brought you here for this great life. I did have a wonderful childhood and adult life in Canada but just knew, I miss Canada but I am not homesick for it the way I was for here."
Gillian, who is the Chief People Officer at Eakin Healthcare Group, said that prior to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, she could not have justified leaving Canada to move to Northern Ireland because the Troubles meant the economy just wasn't there.
"When I think about it, when I moved back here in May 2001 the Odyssey had just opened, you would never have gone out in Belfast and when I think now of the Cathedral Quarter, my brother comes on holiday every few years and he just can't believe the transformation every time he comes," she said.
"I have many Canadian visitors who come, love it and always start in Dublin but always end up coming to the north and just go wow, this is amazing and then they repeat visit.
"In fact two of my best friends from Canada came here, met Northern Irish men and married them. I think there's a movie in there somewhere because the three of us all met men from Ballyclare. My best friend lives down the road from me now and is married to a dairy farmer in Ballyclare.
"It is those sorts of things, it's important to have people like me coming because there is a story that goes around the rest of the world, messaging how great Northern Ireland is and bringing other people to live here."
Gillian's life story could certainly make for an interesting movie script, especially the tale of how she ended up married to her husband Lyle.
The pair actually met as teenagers through Gillian's cousin and dated for a time before they ended up losing touch for over a decade.
It was then when she made the decision to move home again that they reconnected, and the rest is history.
"We actually met as teenagers and lost touch for about 18 years," she said. "There is a good movie in there somewhere between me and my friends.
"I actually just dropped in to see his parents, I had known them over the years, I just so happened to be back on holidays on one of my trips and dropped in to say hello, ran into him again.
"I didn't move back here for him but when I did move back we started going out again and got married after that."
She added: "It was meant to be apparently. We have just been married 20 years at Christmas."
Last month, Gillian was part of a joint delegation from the NI Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Dublin Chamber which travelled to Washington to promote the advantages and opportunities of doing business in Northern Ireland and Ireland.
The group travelled to Washington from Toronto, where they spent two days engaging with business leaders, stakeholders and diaspora in the Canadian city and surrounding areas.
"I am really proud to be in this role and I think it's a great time and I think there's such an exciting future for Northern Ireland," she said.
"If you think about in 25 years where we have come from and then you think where we are now with this Windsor Framework and hopeful it can start to bed in, this dual market access. Rishi Sunak is calling us the world's most exciting economic zone, wow what potential have we got here if we can get this right."
When we spoke she was excited to be going to Canada and Washington to showcase NI and promote us as a great place to do business.
One thing Gillian does struggle with though, is when the headlines coming from Northern Ireland are not so positive.
"It was difficult then but now living here, any time anything happens here it hits their front page and that I find really quite upsetting," she said.
"I remember being over there on holidays around the 12th of July, and I don't remember what year it was, but it kicking off here and watching it, sitting in our hotel watching it on Canadian news just thinking, aw man this is not what we want to be the headlines of Northern Ireland.
"Over the years there have been various things that have happened and it will hit the front page of the Toronto Star and then I get texts and calls asking if I am ok, am I near that. They have been here and they know it is OK and they know what it's like but it is hitting their front pages.
"It is really unfortunate and I think it's a narrative we certainly don't want for NI and every time that happens it puts another doubt in people's minds about Northern Ireland and how safe it is. It is just really disappointing and really sad and I think it is important that we keep the narrative very different from that, that is not the reality we have or what we want."
But Gillian knows how to sell this place and when it comes to justifying her decision to move home, it's an easy one.
"I always say to people I live out in the country, beautiful views, 15 minutes from a gorgeous beach, 15 minutes outside Belfast, 15 minutes from an international airport, good schools and I live in an affordable house and I think where else in the world could you get all of that on our doorstep," she said.
"I just think we are really lucky, a little bit more sunshine but other than that I think where else would you get all of this."
READ NEXT:
Gerry Adams says DUP needs space to make up its mind on Stormont return
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood: Unionists are engaging with our forum on Irish unity
Green Party leader Mal O'Hara: We're not just Alliance with a greener message
Alliance announce who will replace Patricia O'Lynn as North Antrim MLA
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.
