Predates and Outlasts

Since I'm not big on crowds, my country's birthday barely registers most years. I was headed to the post office when I realized that, of course it was closed. But if there's anything I'm inclined to celebrate, it's the land itself. Social and political spheres are always shifting, empires and cultures come and go. The concept of Canada could well persist through my lifetime and yours, but what's underfoot predates and outlasts humanity itself. Since that ancient glacier carved what I call the Annapolis Valley — and the Mi'kmaq called Kespukwik before me — little has fundamentally changed. Surface level stuff, roads and houses, fields and bridges. But the North and South mountains are still those same lonesome ridges, and the river winds her route unstraightened. When the leaves are down, I see my childhood home from here. I could spot a million memories across the landscape at any time at all. All today has been caught in the build-up to a summer storm. Those clouds have super-humid strength, and will soon come crashing down. Not long though, just ten minutes before drifting on. All the rest is more-or-less timeless.

July 1, 2025
Valley View Park, Nova Scotia

Year 18, Day 6442 of my daily journal.