Dear Vancouver,
It’s not you, it’s me.
There’s so many things about you I love, and so many that I hate. But you have been my home for the last four years, so I at least owe you a proper good-bye.
I’ll miss your high-paying corporate jobs, the ability to pick any country I damn well please and be able to go to a restaurant serving its food, your beautiful mountains, oceans and beaches, your festivals in parks and your mild winters (I will forgive you for that bullshit you pulled in 2008).
Thank you for bringing me Do Make Say Think, Mason Jennings, Alanis Morissette, Radiohead, Kings of Leon, Girl Talk, Stanton Warriors, Bloc Party, Dan Mangan, Iron & Wine, Deadmau5, Pavement, Robyn, Sufjan Stevens, and so many more concerts that I saw and loved. Thank you for being close geographically to Sasquatch Festival so that I could go THREE times, and have my mind blown every. single. time. Thank you for having the Vancouver Folk Festival in my neighborhood so that I could unleash my inner barefoot hippie once a year.
I will miss all your different ‘hoods, each with their own energy and in-your-face community pride. Thank you for giving me Kitsilano, which has been my home and safe landing pad after many ups and downs in this city. I loved moving here from Saskatchewan and getting to brag that I lived oceanside with a view of the mountains. I will be a Kits girl at heart till I die. I love my neighborhood, I love Whole Foods, I love independent shops, I love everyone on bikes, I love the beach and I love the farmers market. I do not love the rent prices, but one can’t have everything I suppose.
I will never forget moving here and having my ex and his friends who hated me as the only people I knew in the city. I have had to work hard in this place where everyone seems to have a fake front, but I now have a huge group of friends that I have to say goodbye to.
Thank you for lovers and exes, friends and enemies, co-workers and strangers. After four years, I seem to have accumulated quite a few of these here… and I will miss them all. Thank you for bringing my best friend out here so we could finally live in this city at the same time. Thank you for introducing me to some of the most important people in my life (you know who you are).
I am going to miss your organic vegetables, bike lanes, SkyTrains, mountain views, beautiful escapes nearby, recycling and composting, exploring all the islands off the coast including Vancouver Island (where I was born and my soul lives), afterhours nightclubs, community gardens and having so many choices for everything.
When I try to think of all the ridiculous, hilarious, and sometimes dangerous (sorry mom) adventures I have gotten into here, I can’t even begin to detail them all. I’ll keep them in my memories (and most of them should probably stay there anyway as they’re rather incriminating), so I will just say thank you for those.
I won’t miss your traffic, smelly people on public transit, constantly being asked for change, overwhelming mega-malls, 6 months of rain, sky-high prices for everything, having to work two jobs to stay afloat comfortably, being stranded after public transit stops at 1am, last calls at midnight, lineups at bars…actually, lineups everywhere, rude people who shove onto the bus before you, and running into ex-boyfriends all the time (to those of you who think it’s a big city: IT’S NOT).
That being said, I will miss everything else.
You helped me prove everyone wrong when they laughed at me as I packed up my parents minivan in Saskatoon in the summer of 2008 and decided to be brave and move here. “You’ll be back,” they said. I made it through a flooded apartment (twice), a job falling through and leaving me penniless, a few messy breakups, 4 moves in 4 years, and several job changes. I wanted to go home with my tail between my legs many times but I stood my ground and built a little life here. It might not be perfect and I seem to fall on my face a lot, but it’s where I’ve wanted to be and I love it.
I don’t know if we’re going to reunite after this adventure I’m going on, Vancouver. I might start seeing other people, like Victoria or Halifax, or even Tokyo or Koh Lanta. But you will always be my #1.
Stay classy Vancouver.
Love always,
Rika
