teatime.

As I sip on this week's little splurge, a cup of David's Tea "Oh Canada!" brew and soaking in the cinnamon and toffee scent, the cold weather is unfortunately dampening my spring spirits. However, today was pretty special - I got to spend the morning doing yoga and the afternoon catching up with a friend from California.

As we talked about our old high school, San Francisco and most importantly, what it means to be (and feel) like a foreigner living in another world. We slipped into old language of "American" and laughed at what our new peers teased us about. Of course, the occasional (if not accidental) "Eh?" came out.

This got me thinking...can we ever really let go of who we used to be and where we came from.

I feel like it's always been said that our past follows us everywhere. Perhaps in the form of the Internet, this is true. However, I beg to differ, and I have nothing to be ashamed of.

Growing up in California defined who I am. Moving to Kelowna made me recognize strength that I didn't know that I had. Toronto has supported my dreams and helped me bloom a little bit. That's still a work in progress.

Looking around at my friends who have lived in one place their whole lives, those who've travelled around, we are all different people because of our pasts. The past, no matter what it may hold, is just a piece of the puzzle of ourselves. Even when our personal puzzle looks finished, sometimes another branch comes out of another experience continues to grow and look for another connecting root to the source of who we are.

As we reminisced about warm weather, it came out that my friend and I are definitely different people since five years ago. Despite the different experiences we've had, we were still able to connect on the prior times of school, parted in the recent past and are reconnecting in a new life here.

This feels like a tale for a book. Very fitting, as she is studying publishing at the University of Toronto and I'm a journalism major.