User Story

By Jacqueline Ashmore

We had just gotten off the plane in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The subtropical sun hit our faces as we bathed in its warmth, content with the fact that we made it. It was the end of January and we hadn't seen the sun since the end of October. It was winter back home and we left Edmonton in a blizzard to start our vacation. Satisfied with ourselves we headed down the airport to start our adventure.

We had secured a reservation with a local car rental company located on the bottom floor of the airport. We made our way past sunny windows and tanned faces all lined up to go home. We would be one of them soon, but not yet. We hadn't even gotten started.

We discovered the car company and found ourselves in front of the attendant. She was blonde and tanned, obviously a local. We found ourselves talking to her. She chatted about the cars, upselling us to a convertible. We didn't mind. We wanted to take full advantage of the sun before we left. We knew it would be white out when we got home.

"Where are you guys from?" She asked us innocently.

"Edmonton," we explained, "It’s winter there now and we had to get away. It's beautiful down here!"

"You guys are from Edmonton? Canada?" Her head shot up and her blue eyes opened wide with amazement.

We looked at each other bewildered. "Yeah, Canada."

"Oh, you are so lucky! My kids are dying to go there."

We were confused. Edmonton? Canada? Kids dying to go there? She must have it confused with some other place. No one is dying to go to Edmonton. Especially not people from Florida. Didn't she know it was winter up there? Minus 30 with a wind chill of minus 900?

"Edmonton, Alberta?" We clarified, thinking we heard her wrong.

"Yeah! You guys have that big mall, right?"

Good old West Edmonton Mall. We looked at each other while it dawned on us what she was talking about. We shared a secret smile only Edmontonians can have.

It was a moment that really made us appreciate home. While living and suffering through our scorching hot summers and frigid cold winters, we often forget that we have a world famous landmark that is the envy of half the modern world. People in America dream about coming here the same way we dream about going there. We often take it for granted, or we assume that all malls are that amazing. We forget that we have something special. Something unique.

It was the perfect eye-opener. It was a classic "grass is greener on the other side" moment. While we were dying for escape, it never occurred to us that other people in the world had secret hopes and dreams of one day visiting our city.

We spent the rest of our vacation with palm trees and white beaches, but never quite forgetting who we were and what we had at our disposal. We realized then that we were truly lucky to live in the greatest country, in the richest province, in the capital city with everything we have to claim as ours.