"Why I Love Vancouver" is a book about leaving America and finding Canada

"Hi, I'm Tris and I'm an American…" And at least I know I'm not alone in that fact here in Vancouver. There are lots of us around here (careful, we look just like Canadians, but we're the smart ones who left the country to our South). I've been in Canada for over a dozen years now, in B.C. for ten years this month in fact. What's it like being in Canada as an American? Odd. Odd because I feel more Canadian than American. Odd because I identify myself as Canadian as my nationality. Odd because my family still thinks I'm nuts. Odd because my mother still thinks it was my ex-wife's idea to move up here. Odd because it was my idea.

I came to Canada a few years before Linda Solomon, but for similar reasons. I decided to move up here because I learned that although my (then) wife had a Green Card, if anything happened to me my government had decided that she wouldn't be eligible for assistance. By the way, a Democrat was President then. I didn't like the way my country was heading, even then. So I thought it would be a good idea to move.

So we did.

Me, my wife, daughter, two cats, a dog, my then mother-in-law in a minivan heading north ahead of the rest of our stuff in the moving van.

Many years on now since I moved I went to a book launch last night. Linda has published her book (the first of the Vancouver Observer Press!) Why I Love Vancouver. Since I have been in Vancouver itself a scant year and a bit, I wanted to see if our stories were similar.

Of course they are.

Healthcare, cultural openness, pride of being Canadian.

I haven't made it into part two of the book where other Vancouverites tell their own stories, but I did make it through several chapters of Linda's thoughts, stories, and memories. So I can tell you, and not because Linda is the editor here, you should read this book if you're an American in Vancouver because it will reaffirm why you're here. You should read this book if you're Canadian, because it will remind you of what we have here. You should read this book if you want to read good stories, because we all like to read those.

Just read the book.