2000 was a big year for me. It was one of the first real turning points in my life, and it included a transition away from my home of almost 10 years. Right around the turn of the century, our house was being renovated, so we lived with my aunt’s family in Boundary Bay.

Boundary Bay is between Point Roberts and Tsawwassen, and its beautiful beach lets in crescent pools of water that you can walk over for miles.

It’s hard to believe it was only six months. When you are younger time goes by so slowly. I guess that’s why home is so important in the formative years, but I felt at home there. I quickly became best friends with a neighbour two houses from us. He had a trampoline, and a great dane cross that jumped from that trampoline over the fence, or from the roof to the trampoline.

For the first time in my life, it was complete freedom. I came and went between the two houses, and no one kept tabs on me. In the summer we went to the beach, and in the fall we dealt a small trade in mighty mite fire crackers.

We would always sneak through the border (a hedge) to Point Roberts on missions for candy, and stand over it joking we were half American half Canadian. There was a house that had Canadian flags on one window, and American on the other. It served as a reminder that there are borders—a difference between home and homeland; but I knew the First Nations lived without borders, and found that interesting about them.

Being away from home, the idea of home became more abstract to me.

As a deaf boy my vocabulary was improving every day, and it seemed like that ran parallel to my experience of culture. I was going to Sexsmith Elementary School, which had a special class for the hard-of-hearing. I was one of the only white students in the school, which was mostly made up of Asians – part Vietnamese, Chinese and Filipino, and half Indian. But, while I noticed the uniqueness of our cultures, I noticed the larger difference between the hearing and the deaf.

Sexsmith was a long way from my own neighbourhood, but I was pretty much only one in that small group of hard-of-hearing students that was able to interact with the hearing kids.

I remember going to assemblies for cultural events like Chinese New Year and Diwali—there were fireworks in the gym, which I loved. The school did a good job valuing the diversity of the student body, and everyone was respectful. Nonetheless, on the playground, we congregated according to ethnicity. When we played soccer the Indians formed an exclusive fighting force so it was often me, Kevin (who was Chinese), my best friend Gevan (who was white), and Nelson (the lone Indian who would play on our side) against them. So basically: It was twelve of them, led by someone who was popular for giving everyone yogurt and hustling lunchables under the table, versus a trifecta of Evans—Evan, Gevan, and Kevin—with Nelson, our fellow outcast. However, the games went on forever; they decided when games ended, so they always ‘won.’

We were all kind of connected by popular culture, so we traded Pokemon cards in the hallway, or emulated our favourite wrestlers in the carpeted area.

I’ll layeth the smack down on your candy ass, jabroni.

Every day, I would get up at five in the morning to drive into the city to school. We would beat rush hour, and I would get dropped off at Gevan’s an hour before class. After daycare, I would go back there. I felt at home at his place, just like I did at my aunt’s or my best friend’s in Boundary Bay.

I kind of throw around the word “best friend,” but I think anyone who’s important to your idea of “home” is your best friend. Whether story signing or verbally, I always felt at home telling stories–having friends to share stories with is special.

In the year 2000, my teacher-of-the-deaf told me to go to normal classes full time, but that I was always welcome. Last year, I told her that was really important to me and my sense of belonging, and she cried. It just goes to show that stories can diverge, parallel, and intersect.

Works Cited

Taylor, Steve. “Why Does Time Seem to Pass at Different Speeds?” Psychology Today. Psychology Today Magazine, 03 Jul. 2011. Web. 05 Jun. 2015.

“Boundary Bay.” Boundary Bay Weather. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Jun 2015.

“The Rock makes fun of Triple H [still]”. Youtube. 27 Jan. 2009. Web. 05 Jun. 2015.