i was just talking to the cornfield

Although I’m a born n’ raised Vancouver girl, the United States was my home for 13 months (2002 – 2003). I worked at an internet company doing totally geeky things and loving every minute of it. People didn’t know I was from Canada until I told them but they’d usually say “I thought there was something different about you”.

During that time Bush Jr. sent troops to Iraq. The city in which I lived leaned quite a fair bit to the left compared to the rest of Boston (hence the reason it would be referred to as ‘the People’s Republic of Cambridge’). I’d walk home from the work shuttle bus and see signs down my street “Impeach Bush”. My dad told me since the US was my host country I shouldn’t talk politics and criticize. So I tried to not do such things, I was a guest.

Back in 1997 I met a boy from Oakland, CA who came up to the Sunshine Coast where I was working at a camp. He was with a youth group and they were commissioned to do some work at the camp for a few weeks in the summer. This boy became one of my best friends, actually he’s the reason I first downloaded an Instant Messenger program and to whom I wrote my first email. In turn, I got him hooked on the sport of rugby. He played until college and has had several painful surgeries because of it… I guess I should apologize. I’ve visited him in California and did weekend trips to his college in Poughkeepsie, NY when I lived in Boston (although I wasn’t supposed to take my rental car out of state, oops).

Several years later, in some quirky twist of events, because of that Oakland boy I first started talking to John – and we all know how that story goes – or at least where it’s led us…

John always tells me you don’t have to love your government or agree with them in order to be patriotic. You don’t have to agree with bills that are passed or what goes on in the senate. It’s about your nation, people, society – anything and everything that makes you proud.

I’m proud as heck to be Canadian but some of the most amazing people in my life, those who leave me in awe of just how great people can be, are American.

Today, I wish every American (from Oakland, to Iowa to Boston) a very happy Fourth.