Weyburn is my home town. I graduated from WCS and I used to hang out a LOT at the mall, the swimming pool and around wherever the skater boys were illegally skating. Yes, I did grow up a relatively long time ago! Now, we have a skate park and nobody seems to hang out at the mall anymore, nor do teenagers seem to go swimming, but at least they still call the high school 'the Comp.'
I moved to Calgary right after graduating in 1995, where I went to college to become a writer. I focused on marketing for a number of years, mostly because I chose to be self-employed. As my life in Calgary got more and more complex, I could not imagine myself moving back to 'the Burn.' I had no idea how important community would be to me once I matured. I craved simplicity before too long.
It helped having a 'starter husband' who was really into money and things, as I quickly realized that my path is less about things and more about people and relationships. For a few years, I embraced my 'back-up' trade, cleaning homes, because I could work alone. I am grateful for the time I spent cleaning, because I wanted to cultivate humility and an attitude of loving service. As they say, you must serve before you can lead. I believe that with all of my heart.
My husband Kelt, our son Artan and I moved back to Weyburn in 2009 to be part of a tangible community. As much as we did fully enjoy having access to a seemingly infinite number of amenities in the big city, we are happy to say that our paths have become clearer since being in Weyburn.
Having come from a place like Calgary, where my husband was born and raised, I have learned first-hand that the rat race mentality can cloud one's perception of what is important. Let's not let this happen here, no matter how much we grow in population or business! Weyburn as a community offers a unique vibe of unconditional acceptance. What starts a fight in Calgary can be freely expressed here without anybody caring too much. If we don't like what we hear, we change the subject or laugh at it. This is a quality we may take for granted here, but it truly works to our advantage to be so accepting. Freedom of expression creates a culture of balance and fosters growth. We don't just spontaneously become successful, we must allow for it.
Feeling safe is a key factor in being free to express oneself authentically. Weyburn has a thriving artistic community and many businesses donate to charities. We have plenty of supportive people working in the service industry, but how involved do we get within our own neighbourhoods?
When I was growing up in Weyburn, I never had a house key, we had block parents everywhere and kids could even walk or ride their bikes to school. Now I sense the compartmentalization of the urbane. Do you know your neighbours? Do you at least say hello to them? Or do you just call the cops when they do something you don't like? That's not community, is it?
Don't let the booming economy and the ridiculously-priced homes and overly-available-but-unnecessary financing options fool you. Community-mindedness is what raises the overall level of integrity of our population. Not everyone chooses to live large, but we ALL belong. No amount of thriving our city is doing materially can make up for what we all need to be cultivating in our individual relationships within our homes and our community. We all come from families that took care of each other, didn't we? So, isn't our community just a larger family?
Didn't I see that larger family come together this summer to help each other with flood damage control and clean up? Some of that work is still ongoing. It's times like these when we realize that we are absolutely our brother's keeper. We need to be there for each other more. We need to see more block parents. We need to see more volunteer participation in community events.
Speaking as a former hermit, recently converted into a peripheral socialite, I am delighted to see so much going on around this growing city. As Raffi says, "The more we get together the happier we'll be!"
Speaking nostalgically, have you noticed lately that people are expressing regrets about how most children these days don't get to know what a cassette tape is, much less a vinyl record? I think most young people now just wouldn't care, technocracy rules. But aside from these semantic progressions, are the good old days really gone? I'd like to think not.
Maybe my kids will get to see me as the mom that stops every two seconds at the mall to talk to every other person she sees (anyone who knows my mother Valerie knows that's how I remember the 80s. But I am sure it's also a very common occurrence in small towns everywhere!). Maybe we'll still have neighbours who need to borrow a cup of flour or an egg every so often. Though we may not be able to send a five-year-old on a bike to school these days, the Weyburn I recall fondly from my youth is nowhere near gone. It lives on in our continuity of culture, of tradition, of good will. We can always be creating new memories and celebrating these golden years with our neighbours, family and friends.
