As Lorne Daniel prepares to leave the town where he grew up, he uncovers layers of emotion and layers of the past as he moves into the future.
Fare thee well: the expression has an old-fashioned feel that seems right for the circumstances. I am saying farewell to my home town, moving away from the community where I have lived for the better part of five decades.
That’s a long time. It’s interesting how we get settled into a community, tied in by our family connections, our work, our possessions, our friends. All good things.
But life is short and there is so much more to explore. So it is that I am making a move from the central Alberta oil-patch city of Red Deer out to the island capital of British Columbia — Victoria.
My family moved to Red Deer when its population was just over 12,000 and I leave it now, Alberta’s third largest city, with over 92,000 souls. So I leave a much different community than the one I grew up in.
I have come to see communities with an archeologist’s eye. We build layers upon the history of our places. As something of a long-termer in Red Deer, I always saw not only the current use, but one or two or three layers of previous uses.
Where a newcomer mentions the court house, I’m seeing the grocery store that used to be on the site, or the car dealership where the new coffee shop has gone in. I could always check those memories with Red Deer archivist Michael Dawe, who grew up in the same neighbourhoods and era as me. Beyond nostalgia, there is huge value in having people like Michael remind us of where we have been, before we rush off to build a bunch of cheap big box stores on top of it.
A long-term relationship with a community resembles a family relationship in many ways: close bonds and tensions, fond memories and disappointments. I have been active in my community, so I tend to adopt its successes and failures as my own.
At its core, it is a strong, supportive and healthy community. I recall coming home, a few years ago, from a trip to Costa Rica. I had landed in Calgary, very late at night, and was driving Alberta’s highway 2 northbound back to Red Deer in the wee morning hours.
The flat dark fields seemed so peaceful and comforting. I had the radio on Alberta’s great independent radio, CKUA, where Ian Tyson’s “Rockies Turn to Rose” was followed by a poem by Lorna Crozier. I had enjoyed a great time, learning Spanish and exploring tropical forests in Costa Rica but, man, central Alberta reminded me that home is a whole big bundle of warm emotions.
In recent years, I founded a citizens’ group called ReThink Red Deer. As the name implies, the intent was to encourage folks in our rapidly expanding city to reconsider the default model of suburban sprawl and growth at all costs.
In the process, I no doubt ruffled some feathers. When you question the assumptions that underlay our civic organizations and private-sector development, people can feel threatened. To me, the greater threat is in blindly following the quick-cash motivations of our private-enterprise system.
However unpopular it may be in these times, I believe there is a greater public good than what is represented in our system of infinite growth.
That system is not sustainable, in the long term. We need to make changes at the community level, and at the personal level.
So now it is time for me to make personal changes, including this move.
Canada Geese have it right. When migrating, they fly in the familiar V formation to benefit from the currents. They take turns being the lead goose. I think it’s my turn, now, to fall back into the flock.
Photo Credit
“Sunset Geese Flight” Jeff Cushner @ Flickr.com. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved.
Thanks Michael – I have now crossed the Great Divide and am actually living on the island. Transition time….
Indeed…touching, familiar, warm…lovely writing. All the best with it. The coast ain’t easy but it is worth price of admission…