Oh Canada

OCanada. All politics aside, I just love being part of Canada. It's a whole vibe. It's kindness coupled with strength. It's saying sorry because you mean it, and telling someone to pound sand when you don't.

I wish we spent more time learning from the Indigenous people who lived here before us. I wish that had been an option in school. I see other cultures celebrating their First Nations cousins and respecting how they were here, living in harmony with nature, well before the "settlers" came.

This isn't about that either. Arguing over who was first anywhere is silly. Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know's on third. But respecting those who were here before us is critical.

It's autumn here in Calgary and the leaves are turning.

I love Calgary, but autumn here really doesn't compare to the explosion of colours in Ontario, where I grew up, or on Vancouver Island, where I was last week. Last week, when I went for a walk, a bright red maple leaf was lying on the pavers.

I had a moment.

I'm not a patriot or a nationalist or a (fill in the blank), so I'm not entirely sure why a single maple leaf brought me such joy and a feeling of pride. I think Canadians just approach life differently. It's how we show up. How we notice and appreciate the little things.

Maybe it's how the depth of winter eventually buds into spring so we can have our summer shade, then the leaves burst into colour and fall to the ground so we can have leaf piles to jump into and worms to pick out of our socks. Only so we can dive back into a snowbank, scrape our windows, sled down a hill, and have a reason – not that you need one – to light a fire and drink hot cocoa with whipped cream beside family. The land was doing all of this long before any of us showed up, and whoever was here first got to see it first. But here we are, also able to see it and live it, like so many before. Let's keep doing that.

Oh, Canada.