2000-04-24 - 00:14:58

Halifax

I've never really been one to feel homesick. Even when I first moved to Ottawa for a work term after living home all my life, I didn't consider it a big deal. It was cool, it was fun . . . but it wasn't anything to get upset about. Just part of life and moving on.

But I still felt weird a few minutes ago, seeing a bit of MuchEast. I found myself trying to figure out where the interviews were being held. "Okay, I know that building, and the harbour is right there, so . . . hey, that's just around the corner from where Nick and I were living in the fall!"

I don't know why that excited me so much. I'm sure I could watch that show every week and see an interview from Halifax. I guess that after living in the city off and on for two years and going to school there for over four, it got into me.

I definitely have a lot of positive associations with Halifax. The summer on Quinpool was one of the happiest times of my life; and all my time going to school there was fun. It was cool to be able to walk around the city and feel independent and in control, while still having the option to go home on the weekend for a swim in the lake and some free food and laundry.

It's not that I totally romanticize the city (hell, the pollution in the harbour is a disgrace) or my time there (the Macara days had their ups and downs). Ultimately, though, it's one of four places to which I feel an attachment, along with Lewis Lake (the real home), PEI (which felt like home, for a time), and Ottawa (here and now).

I guess that I'm also making the connection between places I've left behind and, more importantly, people I've left behind. None of those places would have meant anything to me if not for the people who I knew when I was there.

I said that I don't usually get homesick; and I don't usually get too upset about goodbyes, either. I think that I'm essentially accepting and easy-going about life. That doesn't mean that I don't place a value on times past, though. That twinge of homesickness tonight was a good reminder of what the past few years have meant.

Some relationships have drifted apart in that time, while some great friends are simply far away. In either case, though, the fact that things didn't stay the same forever doesn't diminish their value in my eyes. Were it not for all of you, Halifax would be just another dot on the map, just another mesh of streets. Instead, it will always be more to me; and everyone who I'm thinking of as I'm writing this will always mean a great deal to me, too. Thanks.

J.