Somewhere in the depths of what seems like an eternity, I found a magical gem.  Nestled amongst the oldgrown trees of a time long past, pushed up beyond the beach break, and back from the shimmering sands edge.  Tofino.  There is nothing quite like the ocean. Lakes have no ten foot tides, fish flickering from their depths, lighting up the water like sparkles dropped in a glass... I tried to leave once, and the water brought me back. Tried to leave again and it was the rising and setting sun that beckoned. Now when I go it is with the knowledge of returning, the warm sense of home that friendship and familiarity of space seems to bring.

I have fulfilled other scenarios, tried to leave this place that's nurtured me so, with worry of polluted waters and the life within. Yet in leaving, I realized that each place has its story, its sadness, its pollution in either the physical or spiritual sense.  And now that I have the story of other places within me, I'm understanding just how special they all are. I grew up around vast wilderness, old-growth forests, off-grid floathouses and farms, snorkeling for gold (my dad taught me),  freshly grown veggies year round, wild salmon, endless beaches with sand and stone, cleansing tides coming in and going out.

I never realized how precious and rare many of these things were until I went elsewhere.

After moving away to the Kootenays I realized that rarity.  I read the history, or what little was written.

I wondered where the native people were. I wondered where the salmon were. I missed the rising and setting sun. I had no old trees to sit by.

Many things were missing in this new place, so I kept moving and learning, and then wished I hadn't learned, because it couldn't be unlearned and isn't taught. There are missing histories in Canada, and everywhere I guess. Hopefully many of the missing pieces surface and are honoured.

***

I wrote this years ago, as I have been back from the Kootenays for over three years now, and haven’t lived in Tofino since 2016. It seems poignant that the missing histories I spoke of have been coming to light in the past few years, and as tragic as they are, are finally being honoured.