Five ways Canada makes me happy

In honour of Canada Day tomorrow, isn’t it only fitting that I put together a post on what makes me happy about Canada? Here’s what makes me happy about being Canadian:  

1. Tim Horton’s: Yes, a shout out to our favourite doughnut and coffee shop. And true, while Starbucks and its vanilla lattes are trying hard to contend for my coffee love, I always welcome a large regular coffee from Timmy’s. It’s a shop I went to with my parents when I was a little girl-- —back when people smoked in Tim Horton’s and they had counter service. And today, it’s a place my kids beg to go for a post-swimming treat.

2. The "eh": The eh is one of those sayings that tumble casually out of Canadian’s mouths. I didn’t even know how consciously I was saying it until one day, during a trip to The Netherlands to visit my relatives, my cousins quizzed me about why all my sentences ended in “Eh”? There’s a warmth to the “eh”—dropping it in at the end of a sentence invites those in the conversation to agree with you, but not in a confrontational, arrogant way, eh?

3. Our space: Again, having spent time regularly in Europe, I come home from my cramped quarters over there to appreciate the space this country has to offer. And it was only after I drove this country from just about coast to coast that I truly appreciated the expansive Trans Canada Highways or the height of our Rockies.

4. Our arts and cultural exports: To name a few: musical acts such as The Barenaked Ladies, Feist, Arcade Fire; authors such as Lawrence Hill, Miriam Toews, Ann-Marie Macdonald, Michael Ondaatje; actors such as Rachel McAdams, Sandra Oh and Ryan Reynolds; designers such as DSquared2  (Dean and Dan Caten), Lida Baday, Comrags; and—although they may only loosely fit into this category, one of my favourites, cosmetic superstars M.A.C.  I could go on…

5. Our languages: Oh it sounds cliché, but the mix of languages in this country makes me smile. I go home to my parents and hear them speak their unique language of Dutch stirred into English. My daughter comes home from French immersion to teach her brother about “les trois petit cochons.” I walk across the school grounds and hear parents speaking German, Greek, Mandarin, Hindi, Serbian and more. Je pense c’est magnifique.    

Really, what still sums it up for me is this now infamous commercial, The Rant.  Remember this?  

What about you? What makes you happy this Canada Day?  

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