Growing up in Owen Sound afforded me immense freedom and independence.

Cresting the hill on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, a sweeping vista of Georgian Bay appears and like a siren beckons me toward it. Thick with bittersweet nostalgia. A towering wall of rock and vegetation to my right, the massive Niagara Escarpment effortlessly making itself known. Cresting the final hill, I could see sweeping landscapes and a quiet town I once called home. 

Verdant and sunspeckled, the familiar views I grew up with. The somber feeling of realizing your childhood is long-gone, yet your adventure continues. A feeling of wonder seeing this massive monolith you grew up to under its watchful eye - missing nothing.

Your first kiss. Your first fight. Your first heartbreak. 

Your hometown defines you and informs who you'll become. You may consider it too small. Consider, that although you always wanted to leave, it left you with some of the most amazing memories of your life. Where you learned how to fit in, how to explore, and how to go against the grain. It introduced you to lifelong friends and shaped you into who you now. And although you may have hated it when you were there, you wouldn't trade it for anywhere else in the world.