Canada Day & the past 10 years

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This past Sunday was Canada Day aka Canadian independence day, I wanted to blog about it then, but as you may know I was in the middle of some ‘blog renovations’! (We went strawberry picking)

When I moved to Canada about 11 years ago, I was devastated, to say the least. At 18, my life was consumed with friends and rebelling against my parents, and there was nothing that I wanted more than to be left alone in Trinidad with my friends, so I spent my first summer here being completely depressed.

Crunchy tagged me a while ago and just like her, 10 years ago I was about to be married. When I started university, I never thought that I would be married at 20, I always thought that I would graduate and then head back ‘home to Trinidad’, never did I suspect that I could ever call Canada home.

My last 10 years have been filled with the biggest decisions and responsibilities that I’ve ever had to face, becoming a wife, becoming a mother, becoming an adult. Having experienced all these things here in Canada have contributed to making this country my home, my real home, and maybe it’s because my family is here and home is always with them, but I think it’s more than just that. You see, during my first week at university, I discovered religions I had never heard about before, I learnt that India had more than just one language (yeah, I know!), I found friends from all over the world, it was awesome! Diversity, the likes of which I had never seen before.

Today, I walk out with my headscarf and I, of course, still face racism but I also face the kindness and warmth of a people that truly appreciate people, and I’m always proud to call Canada my home.