I heard this song for the first time yesterday. My husband played it for me as we drove across the wide-open prairie on our way back home to Edmonton. We'd been in Vancouver over the weekend and were nearing the end of a very long drive. It had been overcast for twelve hours: since we'd left the Lower Mainland, we'd been surrounded by clouds and fog and rain. And yet, despite the dreary weather, the weekend had helped to convince us that we wanted to leave behind the city of our births and live there, near the ocean, with the hippies and the yuppies amongst the Douglas firs. Coming "home" to us at this point felt more like going to prison.
But eventually we crested a ridge on the Yellowhead Highway just west of Edmonton and the clouds broke a little and this golden sunshine spilled out over the hills and meadows around us. Off in the distance, the downtown skyline glimmered like a jewel on the horizon, like nothing I'd ever seen before. Then this song came on the iPod, totally at random, and my husband looked at me and then looked out the windshield and we both smiled a little. It was as Edmonton, Alberta was welcoming us home.
It made me think. Of course, I still want to live in Vancouver one day. But that city will never feel like city this to me. I think I got a little choked up at that realization, but I'm not sure. However, I do know that there are oceans made of wheat surrounding the city that'll never let me go.
I heard this song for the first time yesterday. My husband played it for me as we drove across the wide-open prairie on our way back home to Edmonton. We'd been in Vancouver over the weekend and were nearing the end of a very long drive. It had been overcast for twelve hours: since we'd left the Lower Mainland, we'd been surrounded by clouds and fog and rain. And yet, despite the dreary weather, the weekend had helped to convince us that we wanted to leave behind the city of our births and live there, near the ocean, with the hippies and the yuppies amongst the Douglas firs. Coming "home" to us at this point felt more like going to prison.
But eventually we crested a ridge on the Yellowhead Highway just west of Edmonton and the clouds broke a little and this golden sunshine spilled out over the hills and meadows around us. Off in the distance, the downtown skyline glimmered like a jewel on the horizon, like nothing I'd ever seen before. Then this song came on the iPod, totally at random, and my husband looked at me and then looked out the windshield and we both smiled a little. It was as Edmonton, Alberta was welcoming us home.
It made me think. Of course, I still want to live in Vancouver one day. But that city will never feel like city this to me. I think I got a little choked up at that realization, but I'm not sure. However, I do know that there are oceans made of wheat surrounding the city that'll never let me go.