Trees Like Crystal
User Story
By Shantelle Henderson
My story starts at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. Not only did I start to turn blue but my dad pushed the nurse out of the way and cleared my throat. I was also born with high amounts of Demerol in my body so I was rushed out of the room to be taken care of so I could live.
Two months later my family decided to move to California where my mom was from. I lived there for 14 years and when my parents split I finally had a chance to come back to where I was born. I've always felt that this was where I belonged.
When I stepped off the plane it was January 21, 1998 it was -28. It was soooo cold my whole body went into shock till I got to my dad’s house. But that all disappeared the next day when it started to snow. Now I‘d never seen snow before but it's the most amazing thing to see. It felt like kisses gliding from the sky. I stayed out there for about 2 hours.
In that year I experienced my first Canadian snowball fight. I was also naive enough to stick my tongue to a pole and YES IT WILL STICK: OUCH! Going tobogganing, that was different. The group I went with wanted me be in the front to learn how to control the toboggan, but it was a joke. They pushed me down the hill without telling me what to do. All you could see were 4 bodies flying in the air as soon as I crashed us. I got right back up and went again. Edmonton had started to grow on me.
That November I met him, the man of my dreams. We fell madly in love with each other and that made me love Edmonton even more. I have now been here for 10 years and I couldn't imagine living or raising my family anywhere else.
The reason I stayed: have you ever seen the river valley on a crisp fall morning when the hill cascading down to the water is ablaze with colour as if on fire, with the thin layer of fog across the water? Or after a big snow fall when everything is covered and the trees look like crystal: if you touch them they would shatter? It makes me feel like I'm in a Thomas Kinkade painting.
My favourite thing is the people. If you have ever been to a Canada Day celebration or been at Rexall Place when the Oilers are playing or at any of the festivals that go on in the city during the year, you know what I’m talking about. There is so much pride as well as respect for the city. I came to find myself, to grow, to learn about my hometown. I stay because I fell in love with our city.
