perspectives
One of the fields that I pass every morning on the Farm is nearly completely
covered in dandelions, which have, by now, all gone to seed. It looks like
the field has been snowed under with cotton balls.
I remember a similar field by
Sullivan's Pond
in Dartmouth. When I was
very small, my mother would walk me to school in the mornings, and then come
and walk me home in the afternoon, taking my dog, Mandy, along for the
exercise. When the field by the war memorial cenotaph was like this, Mandy
and I would run through it, spreading the floating seeds high into the sky,
caught on the ever present wind that comes with living by the ocean. It's a
good memory.
Lisa and I went out for dinner with Greg and the Pie after their softball game
(which they lost, but through no fault of their own). Greg and I started
reminiscing about life in Dartmouth - he's also a Navy brat. The Pie and Lisa
began to accuse us of slagging off Ottawa - just because we remembered that it
snowed more in Dartmouth than here, that it wasn't as cold, and that it was
always windy.
Don't get me wrong - I like living in Ottawa. My extended family is here, my
mother is from here, all my friends are here, and my future is here. But I do
have a special place in my heart for the city in which I was born and raised.
I still have friends there, and going back is like coming home. I have lived
in a couple of places before coming to Ottawa, and each place was different
and lovely in its own way. Each place had its problems, too. Ottawa has some
things about it that I hate, I will admit. But in the whole scheme of things,
it's not a bad place to be. I could definitely see myself raising my family
here, and I can't say that about every place I've been.
There were some people at this table who were born in Ottawa and had never
lived anywhere else. And that's fine, too. But only Greg seemed to agree
with me that you couldn't really get a perspective on what Ottawa is like to
live in unless you've lived somewhere else. It's like the Fish not knowing
what water was until the Fisherman took him out of it. It's just a different
perspective, is all.
Other than that, things have been entertaining. As I mentioned, Lisa is home
for a little while before she heads to Portland to start her new job, breaking
stuff. So we're trying to pack as many hijinks into this time as possible. We
shall see how well that works out.
Posted by Ally at June 2, 2006 08:46 AM