Prompt #39 - Where you've been
Prompt #39
"You don't mind where you are because you know where you've been..." - Carbon Leaf

I try not to think of Chicago as an exile but in truth I suppose that is what it was intended to be. Although it did feel like that at first, over time Chicago has felt like home. That's not to say that I've forgotten Canada. I still thrive on barren rocks and snow as I told my father. I always remember the place I've come from. Sometimes I do long for the wide open spaces, but I have my memories.

It might not seem like much but memories can be powerful things when you are many miles from the pace that you used to call home. I can remember how it feels to walk in the snow, how in the summer you can smell the flowers and the trees. The feeling of being one small part of something larger. It's a profound feeling and one which the urban jungle of Chicago can never match.

Although Chicago is home now. I have things here that I never had at home. I have friends, I have my best friend Ray and his family. I will never forget that I am Canadian, that I am a stranger in Chicago but it is home, perhaps not in the same way as Canada. The Northwest Territories are where I have come from, they have helped shape me into who I am. I can never forget that home and that makes my new one more bearable.