I took my first school field trip to Toronto when I was in Grade Seven, where I saw homeless people sleeping on sidewalks and people with different coloured skin. I remember asking my teachers why people didn’t have houses or look like me. Same goes for my kids — a trip to Toronto leaves them slack jawed and staring, with us explaining gently that we live in a big world.
Sharing your town with 10,000 friends
Our cottage country town has a population of 1,500 in the winter, but grows by 10,000 as city slickers return to their cottages in the summer. This means traffic, higher gas prices, hot dog bun shortages and line ups for
ice cream at my hometown dairy. But it also means a thriving economy and successful small businesses that keep our alive in the off-season.