That One Magic Day

I have thought about this many times through out my life, if I could back to my childhood for one day which day would it be? Most times I think about this it is wondering if I go back to just one date and time could I change everything. We all end up on the path we are on because of choices we make or are made for us when we were young, and there are many days that I wonder what is the exact moment in my childhood that put me on the road I am on now. I am sure there are many moments and many days that have shaped the road of my life but I think there is nothing more profound than the day I moved from Ontario to Alberta. We had moved around a lot in Ontario and I am sure I would have ended up moving eventually but this move was a drastic change in my life. This move didn't just mean a change of schools, new friends and a different school bus. It meant saying goodbye to everyone I knew.

Life in Ontario was over and a new chapter of my life was to begin. I can't say that staying in Ontario would have put my life on a different or even better road but for that short period of time it totally changed the direction of my life. Moving to Alberta was a very tramatic experience for me, but the day that I would like to go back to is the day before I left. I know that I can't change anything about this, I was moving to Alberta whether I wanted to go or not after all I was only 8 years old. But what I want to go back to is the feeling of belonging, the feeling that I was actually going to be missed. I am now 39 years old and I haven't seen these people in 30 years and I am sure the way I remember that day was different than it actually was. And like most situations you remember things better when they are no longer a part of your life than when they were...how many people remember someone who has passed away as a saint yet while they were alive they couldn't find a good thing about them. Or what about that guy you thought was an ass in school but later when you speak of him it is foundly. I don't remember the names of any of the children but one Candy, I know that there were other kids in my class that were kind to me but I can't recall if they were my friends or not but the memory I have of them was sweet. I remember my French teacher being the funniest teacher ever and loving the school I was in so much I didn't want to leave. I know that the kids all made me a cassette tape with their wishes for me, addresses and stuff (my dad taped over it). I never spoke to those kids again.

I am sure looking back on that day as the one that changed my life is tainted by the memories of an 8 year old girl but it was a wonderful day considering the next day I stepped onto a train with my favourite doll in hand and moved to a foreign land to start life over again. I have looked back on that time of my life many times and wondered what would have happened to my life if I had stayed in that class. Would I have continued to like the French teacher or was he only cool on that one day? Did I have lots of friends or were the kids all kind to me because I was leaving? I don't have any recollections of this time other than the day I left so it is hard to say how life would have turned out as I know I am looking back at this time through rose coloured glasses. There wasn't a day in my life as a child that made as much of an inpact on me as that one...well maybe the day I walked into class in my new school, nine years old and in a foreign land.