Right Back Where I Started From

When I was born (my grandmother likes to tell me) my name was up in lights. My Afi was on the Calgary Stampede board of governors for many years, and on July 15th, in honour of his first grandchild being born, the display board at the Chuck wagon race read: "Congratulations Keith Johnson on the birth of grandchild Brianna Marie Johnson". A modest crowd of 15,000 applauded politely.

I was officially, then, inducted into the stampede culture and began my life as a Calgarian.

As I drive through this city now, I realize that every formative memory I have from my childhood has something to do with Calgary. I played on these soccer fields, rode my bike and kissed boys in Fish Creek Park, did the snow-plow at Nakiska, cheered on the skaters during the winter Olympics, hung out with my friends at Southcentre Mall, learned to swim at the Family Leisure Centre, cheered for the Flames, celebrated my 13th birthday with Beth and Steph at the Earls on 4th Street, and learned to drive on the streets of Sundance.

It's funny looking back at all of this, because by the time I reached high school, I wanted nothing more than to leave what I thought of as a "boring, ugly, creativity-limiting, stifling city". The topic of conversation in grade 12 with my best friend Adam was how we were going to 'escape' from Calgary and start living our real lives somewhere much more vibrant and interesting.

Since then I've been lucky enough to have called many cities home: Victoria, Vancouver, Kingston, Toronto, Mississauga. And it took all of these experiences to realize that Calgary never stopped being the place where I wanted to be.

I'm back now; a different person from when I've left. Yet I'm living 5 minutes from where I grew up, teaching at a school where I was once a student and grocery shopping at the same store that my mom bought food from when I wasn't even old enough to cross the street on my own. Have I not 'made it' because I'm back where I started? Or, does you have to leave in order to understand who you really are?

I don't know where life will take me next. I am still looking for my big adventure. But this time around, I have the insight and experience to call these people, these mountains and these memories that I have "home".