I AM

grilled cheese, Hockey Night in Canada, and a river that is only a creek

A little bit about me as I contemplate where I come from…

I didn’t take this picture, it was taken by Egemen Mustafa Sener, but this is exactly what it looks like where I come from.

I am from grilled cheese — ready for me to eat so I could watch The Flintstones when I came home from Avondale school for my lunchbreak.

I am from tequila and Canadian Club, contraband stolen from the parents, usually mixed in the same bottle.

I am from a prairie farm with an outhouse that my Mom would paint white every summer in an effort to spiff things up, just as I’m from a northern city with a strong skeleton of grain and arteries made of oil — home of the trumpeter swan.

I am from Hockey Night in Canada and Gord Downie giving us Ahead By A Century.

I am from acts of service in succession until our fingers bled and our souls ran dry, which is why we went to church on Sunday to sing Amazing Grace and replenish our souls so we can perform many more acts of service with no thought to what truly fulfills us, be…