When the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown began, Ellie Safari of Windsor, Ont., and her American boyfriend, James Darden, faced a heartbreaking decision.
Either he would hunker down just across the way in Detroit, where he works at a casino and has family, including his mother and his 18-year-old daughter.
Or he would stay with Safari and their two Canadian-born children — ages four and nine — in Windsor, where she works as a hotel guest services supervisor and a personal trainer.
Darden has been living a cross-border life throughout his relationship with Safari, easily travelling back and forth between the nearby cities each week.