I appreciate Canada Day so much more after living in the United States for a couple of years.
I’ve never been a particularly patriotic person, so our national birthday didn’t have a whole lot of meaning for me. I sometimes enjoyed checking out the fireworks in my hometown, but even that was usually not impressive enough to warrant a trip outside of my house after dark, when I’d rather be sleeping.
Independence Day has fireworks, too, and you don’t even have to leave your house to see them. After spending all day drinking in their backyards, your neighbours will set off fireworks of their own – right next to you. And it’s not just at designated times, either. For the entire week, celebrating U.S. citizens (and their small children, who should likely not be playing with fire) have free reign to light up the sky whenever they want. So as an anxious, jumpy person, that meant I spent an entire week on the edge of my seat, anticipating the next loud bang coming from outside my window.
And no one celebrated Canada Day down south. While I’d never really celebrated it much myself, I was used to something happening on July 1 every year, and having it pass just like any other day was a bit bizarre.
I managed to find an online initiative called “Canada Day Across America,” which encouraged Canadians living in the United States to get together and celebrate the holiday with other nearby Canadians. Sadly, there weren’t a lot of us in Kansas, and certainly no one close enough for me to enjoy a holiday with. (Spending a holiday with strangers doesn’t particularly appeal to me, anyway).
So I started to make the day festive for myself. I made puffed wheat cake, which is apparently a purely Canadian treat, and I indulged in some of the treasures my family would regularly mail across the border – Old Dutch dill pickle chips, Super Nibs, and Eat More bars. It became kind of a special day for me, where I got to brag about my country and tell people what I missed about living in Canada — mostly health care but also Nanaimo bars, which aren’t practical to send in the mail.
My U.S. family didn’t entirely appreciate my Canadian treats, but indulged me for the day. And they put up with my whining about the terrible fireworks (but nicely requested that I not complain about them to others, because apparently, that would have been offensive).
The funny part is that now that I’m back in Canada, celebrating Canada Day has kind of lost its meaning again. I don’t need a special day anymore to be glad that I live here or to enjoy my favourite Canadian treats. I can do that whenever I want.
I don’t plan on celebrating the 4th of July, either, but I have to admit that it would be nice to spend a day indulging on the things I miss about the United States. Although, that’s pretty much just buying beer from the grocery store or the gas station, and likely not possible – even on Independence Day in Canada.
Instead, I’ll wish my American friends a good day and just be glad I don’t have to spend the week dreading the tiny explosions set off by drunken parents and their small children throughout the neighbourhood.
