Oh Canada...my home and native land....

Being Canadian. It's an odd thing. It's a great thing, but it's an odd thing. Due mostly, as the majority of Canadians know, to our country's proximity to the US of A. I think the way a lot of Canadians think of themselves, is as "not American". If anybody ever mistakes a Canadian for an American, it's a huge insult. "Ummm no, I'm Canadian. Geez!". I do it to, I"ll admit it. I don't know why I do it, cause really, I love America, and there is not really any Americans I know personally that I dislike. I suppose part of being Canadian is that...we are not American. I"m going to go out on a limb and say George Bush has been the main contributor to this "god no, I'm not American" attitude. Just a guess. We'll see what happens once they get President Obama.


Canada Day. It always gives me a good opportunity to reflect on just how much I love my beautiful country. I think about it fairly often, but when I consider how great it really and truly is here, then I realize I probably don't think it enough.


Canada has to be one of the most beautiful countries in the world, hands down. Anybody who has done any sort of travelling around it cannot dispute that fact. We gots it all! I say it all the time, "it's so gorgeous here!", and I am often met with a look of indifference or a scoff. I always just wanna shout, "look around you!! Why can't you see!". I guess for some people, they are so used to it that it doesn't faze them anymore. They stop noticing. Sucks to be them. I know I know. haha, what a dumb song that was. I just wish people could love and appreciate it more, because who knows how long the beauty will last for. Not the song, the place we live!


I guess maybe everyone loves their country for different reasons. My one friend loves Canada because, as she says, "you can smoke pot anywhere and people don't care". Which...okay. I suppose the underlying reasoning in that statement is that, she loves Canada for the freedoms we are afforded here. Ain't nothing wrong with freedom! Who doesn't like freedom? People die for it. The freedom to live our lives the way we personally choose to live them is a huuuuuge freedom, that so many people in the world can't fathom. Here, if my friend wants to smoke a joint while she's sitting in a park, she (probably) won't be bothered...if one of my best friends wants to marry his boyfriend, that's cool! If I want to walk around town wearing a tube top and short shorts, letting my skin be exposed to the world, that's fine too (not that that would EVER happen)...but I'm just saying.


Last July, I was in Ottawa for Canada Day:



It was pretty freaking great. Despite the fact that everybody was convinced the government was slowly trying to get us used to the idea of "being American" (see red, white and BLUE sign above), it was a pretty amazing time. I think every Canadian should experience Canada Day on Parliament Hill if possible! Canadians from all over the country coming together in the nation's capital to celebrate and say, "god, I love this country!". God. I love this country, my country.

Every time I hear the National anthem, I cry. It overwhelms me with pride and gratitude. I feel like such a dork every time my eyes well up, but no matter where I am, standing at a ball game, or watching the Olympics on television, if "Oh Canada" plays, the eyes start to tear and I break out into a huge dorky grin. If there is one part of high school I miss, it's getting to hear the national anthem every day.

I don't own any of those, "Canadian Girls Kick Ass" shirts, or have a "Canada Rocks!" hat, or even a maple leaf tattooed on my ass. All those things seem false and cliche, and they don't seem to quite grasp just why I love this place so much. I find the "I AM CANADIAN" commercials funny, endearing and even somewhat true, but they don't quite capture it either. I suppose that is probably because they were advertisements for beer. I could take or leave beer, and therefore it has little connection to my Canada.

Canada is beautiful.
Canada is free
Canada fills me with pride and I am thankful to live here.

Yeah, I love this country for all these reasons. But, that's still not the heart of it.

I love Canada because it is my home. It's that simple. It is my home, with it's coloured money, extra "u's", with the beavers the red and the white, the snow, it's hugeness, it's easy goingness, it's igloos and Eskimos and mounties, and whatever else the world thinks we have here. It's mountains, it's lakes, it's forests, it's cities, it's country roads that sometimes seem to wind along forever, it's people. I can't imagine home being anywhere else, and that is why I love Canada so very very much.