I got into Edmonton airport from Calgary yesterday and the same thought came to my mind as comes to my mind everytime I leave home to work.
I flew into Calgary New Years Eve and Joe and Maya were there waiting for me. A very welcomed sight in a far off land. It's always nice to see a familiar face in a crowd of otherwise unknowns, especially when you are away from home.
I work in Alberta and British Columbia in the oil and gas industry, it requires that I leave my precious rock. I don't like to leave. It makes me sad.
Living on an island comes with a certain sense of isolation. Not only is it a physical isolation, but as I find it a spiritual isolation. I am attached to that land as much as that land is attached to me. When I leave my land I feel it. I feel it in my stomach and in my veins. The farther I travel away from that Island the more anxious I get. The longer I stay away the more I realize I belong there.
I almost cried once in Toronto airport when I heard a Newfoundland accent for the first time in 2 months. When I am away and see how life is in other places it makes me increasingly aware of how great it is to be from Newfoundland and be a Newfoundlander.
Although I am several thousands of miles away from home, my anxiety increases when I have to travel an extra few hundred miles further from home. My isolation works in a different regard. If there was an ocean near me I'm sure it wouldn't be so bad.
My body acts as a measuring tape whenever I leave home. Newfoundland my origin. The further the tape stretches the higher the units of anxiety increases.
Everytime I get off a plane there is a time when I contemplate getting back on one to go straight back home. This occurs during each stop over on my way across Canada.
I hate having to leave home to work and yet I am proud to do so. I guess it's a rite of passage to being a Newfoundlander.
