home sweet roberts creek

I am home for the third weekend in a row. My friend Shauna, who used to live in Vancouver, is here visiting from Edmonton, and in her time spent living on the west coast of British Columbia, she never had a chance to make it to the Sunshine Coast so, I thought I'd give her that opportunity. And so she is here. We are here.

I am currently sitting in my parents living room listening to Deadmau5 and eating my left over Thai noodle salad (which I ordered with smoked salmon, I suggest you try it) from our dinner last night at the Gumboot Restaurant. It is 9am on Saturday. I've been up since 8 o'clock, after being jolted awake from a series of pee dreams. You know the ones, where you're sitting on the toilet, urinating, and it feels so real that you, maybe, sometimes, might start to pee and you maybe, sometimes, might 'wet the bed'? I didn't wet the bed, but I did manage to wake up just in time to clench my bladder and run to the loo. I didn't, however, manage to stop myself before I started, and my pajama pants were a little wet. How humiliating. I haven't done that since I was a kid. (But I can't be that humiliated about it since I just told the entire cyber community. That's right, the everyone on the web reads my blog.) So, I hopped straight in the bath, and here we are.

Every time I come to Roberts creek, I feel like I'm coming here for the first time. Especially in summer. Last night, after we got off the ferry, Shauna and I walked down to the general store to buy a six pack and sit down at Roberts Creek beach.

"It's so beautiful, it's almost not real!" Shauna exclaimed as we walked down Lower Road.
"I know! Isn't it?" I responded.
I was totally and utterly enraptured in the creek's ethereal beauty.
Huge 'shit-eating-grin' on my face. And I wished I had introduced Shauna to the coast a year ago, before she made, what I thought, was a rather rash decision to move back Edmonton. I knew she'd love it here. Everyone does when they come here the first time.

"Yup, this is where I'm from." She must have thought I was nuts.
I'm fine with that.
Natural born creeker.

"I was born in that house there...that's the legion...my mum and her ex husband opened that restaurant thirty years ago...I worked there, there and there..."
Certified creek tour guide.
This is the real 'small town west coast, BC'.

It's not hard to see why my town attracts the kind of people it does. The free flowing lifestyle. The forest. The beach. The vegan friendly attitude. They're not really the kind of people I like. They've sort of claimed it as their own. Call themselves locals, and make me feel like an outcast. Trust fund 'hippies'. My friend calls them 'feather and bone fuckers'. I don't take to fondly to it and it's one of the reasons I chose to leave this paradise for 'the big shitty'. I have to say though, it took me traveling across the globe, and moving to Vancouver to truly appreciate where I'm from. Usually, when I come here, I can't wipe the grin off my face. And this weekend is no exception.

The last two Sundays, I've been fortunate enough to spend out on the water. Kayaking with Chanel one, and sailing the ocean blue with Max the other. Shauna, unfortunately, has to be back in the city Sunday afternoon, and my parents happen to be on their first sailing trip at the moment and won't be back until tonight (mum called to tell me, in case I need to call the coast guard) so it doesn't look like I will be lucky enough to make it three for three.
Paging Chanel?
Paging Max?
Oh well.
It doesn't matter.
Because I am here.
With Shauna
In the most beautiful place in the world.
Where I am so proud to be from.
Home sweet Roberts Creek.