15 years...

For the most part my childhood in Winnipeg was a happy one. It was safe and fun. There is something truly comforting about being surrounded by things and people you have always known. Then in December 1995, I heard the worst news of my 13 years of existence, we were moving to Calgary when the school year done. I didn’t take this news well but in that last year of school in Winnipeg I felt like I was dying. I treated every moment like it was my last. Making sure to join every club, made sure I went to every dance, and went to every sleepover I was invited to. It was a great year and I had a huge going away party. The devastation of the moving didn’t really sink in until the day the moving truck cleared out our house. I remember lying of the floor of bedroom sobbing, this was sure to be the end of my life.

Saying goodbye to my family at the airport and mostly my cousin (who is more like a sister) Sarah-kay, still goes down in the books as one of the hardest things I have ever done. On July 10^th, 1996 I watched the only home I had known fade away in the plane and my family and I were starting over in a place I knew nothing about. My first impression of Calgary was my Dad (who NEVER wears jeans) dressed in a cowboy costume, he looked Mexican, I was not impressed. In fact I spent much of that summer, not impressed. I barely spoke to my parents, I moped a lot, I wrote letters to people in Winnipeg, and I dreaded the first day of school. I was afraid of forgetting about everything I had always known and loved.

School was not so bad. I made friends. I found Drama Class again. I found boys to obsess about, of course. I lost friends. I got rejected from plays and boys. I spent all of 11^th grade in the back of the library rather than dealing with people (a habit I still flock to, occasionally). I have not always felt like I have fit into Calgary. I have almost always felt like a bit of a fish out of water here. I am not conservative; I hate country music and cowboy hats. I always have a lot to complain about when it comes to this city. But the truth is the city is where I grew up. I discovered who I am and what I want out of my life. I discovered who I am and honestly I see why so many people reject me, I am not always my biggest fan either. But I am trying to work with what I have and make something better out of myself. And I found all this drive, inspiration and ambition right here in Calgary.

My 15 years in Calgary feels like it has been a rollercoaster to say the least. It started low but I met people who changed my life, my views, my heart and soul forever. And although a lot of my time here has been anything but easy, I can’t say that I would lose any part of it in my history. Because my history feels like it is a really important part of this person I am trying to build, this person I know I am going to be proud to be. So, thank you Calgary for being a part of who I am and who I am becoming. Thank you to everyone who I have met here. Whether you have been a friend or enemy, whether you have been an ally or a foe, whether you have been an inspiration or pain in my ass or heart; you have thought me lessons I promise to carry on with me.

I have tried to get out of this city many times before and I have come close but I have come back. I think that was because I needed more lessons under my belt and because I didn’t really know what I wanted out of my life. Now I know. I have thought about it and I want it so bad. So, although I am grateful for my 15 years in Calgary, I am most definitely hoping that 15 years does not turn into 16 and so on. I am ready to put all this ambition to use and see where it takes me in the next 15 years in my life.