SeanFromCanada's Blog

Originally posted on 11.15.13

As I mentioned, Nov 11th is a school holiday in Canada. That meant that as a school boy, I never had school on my birthday. That made for a great day to hold a birthday party, which through my elementary school years always involved playing guns on the hill that I lived on. That’s what rough and tumble Canadian boys liked to do in those days…crawl around in the dirt, climb trees and hunt your friends with water balloons.

Ignoring the now rather obvious insensitivities of ‘playing war’ on Remembrance Day, we’d gather the 20 or so neighborhood boys, split into 2 armies and battle each other for hours. As we grew a little older, we’d even stop around 11 o’clock for a minute of silence…respecting our history and the men who went before us. Then the battle would resume, until it was time to open presents, eat cake and ultimately head home after a long day. It was one of the best times of the year, and became a long standing tradition.

To this day, as I receive birthday wishes from my friends, there continues to be references to playing guns in the hills. As it did for me, this experience meant a lot to every one of my friends. I’m proud to say I’m still in frequent contact with virtually every one of them.

This was how I bonded with my band of brothers. My friends mean so much to me…anyone who knows me, knows this.