I Live in the Wrong Place

I live in Canada. As a matter of fact, I was born and raised here. My parents came as immigrants and then I was born last of three children. As a child my parents encouraged me to go outside and enjoy the fresh air, sometimes it would be the fresh mountain air. My parents would take me skating to the local skate rink and every time I was on the ice all I could do was wait until I can get off the ice. I would stand there shaking in my skates afraid that I would fall and I would fall often. Strangers would provide sympathetic smiles and sometimes I would fall, and I would stay there. I would sit in my snowpants sitting on the lake.

My family used to take me skiing every once in a while, not downhill just cross country and I would always choose the easiest path, the one that barely had hills. My mom would always go with me, whilst my two older sisters and my dad took the harder path and they would be gone for hours even after my mom and me got back to the car, we would sit and wait and sometimes until nightfall.

I went downhill skiing once on a class trip, all my friends chose snowboarding, so I went on this trip and my stomach cramps started acting up, it happens every time I get stressed out or excited. We were on a training hill, and I was the last one to leave because I could not master the going down the hill in a pizza shape. The instructor was an older man and he seemed to get annoyed with me for not enjoying the sport. I said, "my stomach hurts" and that was the end of the day for me. As soon as I got off the hill, my stomach untwisted itself I could feel my heart rate slow down. I stopped sweating because it was over. I was safe. I was no longer in the snow trying to keep up with my classmates.

The only thing I really enjoyed about winter when growing up was building a snowman, building forts and throwing snowballs, building big mounds of snow and pretending like I was king of the mountain. I loved going tobogganing or sledding down the hill by my parent's house, behind the school. That hill no longer exists due to the school expanding.

Then, there would be that change in the air, where on some days it would be getting a little warmer and there was a tickle inside my chest and a thought that would come to me "it's happening, it's finally here" after months of cold months of snow. Spring was happening and it happens so fast, it almost happens overnight. Soon, I would be seeing men in shorts, women in sundresses and that smell of the May Day flowers blooming, my nose would tickle, and allergy season would be here. The smell of sunscreen would soon waft the air and I would be able to enjoy being outside, I would take out my bike and bike around the neighboring parks, I would go to the playground and play, but what I looked forward to most was going to an outdoor pool in the city and play with my older sisters.

Now, I look forward to summer because I go outside on my lunch break, I walk around, I sit in the sun read a book for an hour. I get my camping gear in order and camp out underneath the stars in a tent, I put on my hikers that sit in the back of the closet and finally go to the mountains. I walk to the nearest ice cream store and get amazing ice cream, I sit in a kayak for hours and explore the lake and maybe see a turtle, I sit in the summer sun getting a tan while reading the latest fantasy novel. I sit on the beach and watch the sunrise or sunset, I sit by the fire and melt cheese with pita bread, I roast the perfect marshmallow with the perfect browned outside shell.

I throw a frisbee or a ball, we play Boche ball in the park while drinking lemonade from Starbucks. I become a different person and I love that person. She loves the outdoors and wants to soak in as much sun as possible before the winter comes. I run barefoot in the grass despite my feet growing twice their size because of my allergies, I love every minute of it. I live in the wrong place; I am meant for summer weather. I wear summer dresses to work despite the office being cold, I put on shorts, and I can feel the heat on my legs. I can swim for hours in a lake nearly going fully across it. I eat salty chips by the beach, and I do not wish I was anywhere else. Yet, I still live in Canada because Christmas without snow? Forget about it.