When we arrived on Christmas day, there was a big, black truck parked in front of the house.
This truck, I was told, belonged to my cousin, Jack. I shook my head in disbelief, how could my little cousin be driving a big truck? (Five years my junior, how could that kid even have his licence?) Something happened while I was away and suddenly my younger cousins are towering over me. They are growing up and I just have to come to terms with that. I knew that Georgia, (aged 11) had been doing tae kwon dobut a black-striped belt? Are you kidding me? The kid can break wood with her foot. And when did she get so tall?
Seriously, how did that happen? My uncle showed me video clips on the iPhone of Jack doing bike jumps at incredible heights through the air. This terrified me. When did that "little guy' get into extreme sports? When I first left Canada, Georgia was a pre-schooler and Jack was in elementary school drooling in a cup.
In my mind's eye, I conjure up memories of the people that I love but in that distorted place, time stands still. I hadn't seen my little brother, Chris (my dad's son) for two years and suddenly he is this grown up kid in Grade 6, speaking French fluently, thanks to years of french immersion. He is not that same little tyke that I used to take to the park and push on the swings.
So Christmas shopping has changed and I can't just get lost in Toys 'R Us, buying random-fun gifts for the "little kids." Things have become more specific as their interests have changed and narrowed in. No more Barbie for the little girl, it is now all about Taylor Swift merchandise and designer duds. I remember buying Jack a toy truck but now he is driving the real thing. No, you can't buy a kid a toy phone when he is carrying around the real thing in Grade 6. Huh? My little brother has a mobile phone? Living away from the hometown puts you in this weird kind of time warp!
While I have been at college, former classmates from Port Coquitlam have got married and even had kids and our lives have gone in polar-opposite directions. I realize now that I have been so absorbed with my own life and studies at school that things have forged forward here and I have been unaware. I live five hours away by plane but in many ways, it feels like I am in another universe.
I am so far from contemplating marriage or kids, it ain't even funny. I still have so much growing up to do myself yet, I can't imagine taking on any major life responsibilities. Creating art and writing papers is all I can do right now and the foreseeable future.
And for the short term, I am adjusting to little kids growing up and looking forward to a promised ride in my "little" cousin's big, black truck. I will do my best to not be a back-seat driver and just enjoy the role reversal and let him lead the way.
Naomi Yorke is a Port Coquitlam student who lived in Shanghai, China for four years, writing about her experiences twice a month for The Tri-City News. She now lives in Chicago, where she's attending art school, and continues her column.
