I mentioned to a friend of the family that I was going to be writing a column in the Prince George Citizen and she immediately said "about how much Prince George sucks."
When I told her that I was actually going to be writing about community pride and my experiences about moving back to P.G. after spending so many years away, the conversation immediately turned to the worst things about living in Prince George.
Every single person in Prince George wants the potholes (craters) fixed in the summer and to have the snow removed from the middle of the road in the winter. This is a shared experience. It makes us mad. How mad would we be if there was one snowplow in the entire city? We may not get flowers in February, but our city crews can get our roads safer after a big snow dump in record time.
As a community, we need to recognize the things that Prince George does have rather than what it doesn't have. We are the people who come together to help one another, to lift each other up. We care about our neighbours.
I'm not sure what we can do as a community to better our image down south. I'm not sure if we want to. Let's be realistic about the problems in our city and share our ideas about how to make it better. Let's be in this together. We all live here or stay here for a reason. What's yours?
Let's be present in the moments when the community comes together and enjoy the "best" of our city. In that spirit, I went with my family to the Festival of the Trees, which I haven't done in years, and we had a fantastic time. I ran into friends and family and colleagues who were all out to support the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation and who came to enjoy the lights, trees and each other.
I chose to move back because of family, lower house prices and the opportunity to live a more simple life. As a bonus, I also get to witness my husband experience the "wonder of nature."
One morning a few weeks ago, he called me out to the back patio in a stage whisper: "Megan...quick! Come here!"
I rushed over to the door where he's excitedly pointing to a woodland creature enjoying the snowy morning.
"It's a prairie chicken!" he said to me.
I laughed. It was a grouse.
No one born here would call a grouse a prairie chicken. That's just not done (even though a prairie chicken is a type of grouse).
On one of my many trips home to Prince George, I was visiting with one of my best friends who got married and had her family here and never moved away. I asked her why she chose to stay in Prince George. She looked at me and said: "Why would anyone leave?"
Why would we?
