Confessions of a Teenage Farm Girl

When you live on a farm, there is nothing but silence at night when you are sleeping. In the summer when the windows are open you might hear some frogs in the ditches outside, or rain coming down on the roof. In the winter, you might hear strong winds blowing snow against your window.

On the farm where I grew up, our farmyard was actually situated between the CPR and the CN railway lines. Why? Because our farm was settled in the 1800’s before these lines were even built. So trains would go by in the middle of the night all the time, and I never lost a moment of sleep. I didn’t even notice the sound of a train.

In the country, you don’t hear sirens. Unless they are coming to your house. Luckily, this never happened once in my 18 years living on a farm.

When I moved to Winnipeg there were 2 things that I just couldn’t get used to at night when I was trying to sleep. First, the orange glow of the night sky in Winnipeg. It is never actually dark in the city. Second, the sirens. In my first few months living in Winnipeg I would jump out of bed and run to the window every time I heard a siren, whether it was police car, an ambulance, or a fire truck.

Yes, I am small town like that.

So last night, when I jumped out of bed at 4am and ran to the window when I heard a team of sirens, I wondered if this weird instinct/worry would ever go away. This is my 7th year in Winnipeg! Will I ever get over it?!?

This really made me think about the things that were different when I moved here in 2003…

I am ashamed to admit that I had never seen a crossing guard at a school. These kids in orange vests on the street waving flags looked like a hazard to me. I didn’t know when it was okay to drive past them. (I know, this is embarrassing).

I thought those ice cream trucks that played music as they drove down the street were only in movies. I’m not kidding. When I heard the music one day, I was (again) confused. My boyfriend at the time said it was an ice cream truck. I grabbed money and ran in sock feet as hard as I could to find it. It think the guy driving the truck really wondered why a 20-year old was frantically chasing down his ice cream truck.

I didn’t know you had to lock the doors of your house. I had never owned a house key in my life.

I was nervous about riding my first city bus, because I didn’t know how to pay the fare when I stepped on the bus.

I couldn’t find a post office to buy stamps. I had no idea that you could buy stamps at grocery stores, pharmacies, convenience stores.

I was absolutely amazed that 7-11 was open all night. Who could possibly need candy and corndogs in the middle of the night?!?

These ridiculous little differences are endless, and can actually make the transition quite difficult.

Recently, I was home in Gladstone visiting my parents and I caught myself saying, “ I can’t believe the stores here are only open until 5:30!”