If it wasn’t for the tree in my neighbour’s yard, I could probably see the hospital where I was born. But while I was born just blocks away from where I now live, I didn’t grow up here in Ottawa. I’m not entirely sure how it came to be that I was born at that hospital at all, since at the time my mother lived in another city, another province. And while that other city was just across the river from where the hospital still stands, it could sometimes feel like it was on another planet.

I rarely answer the question where are you from? by naming the place I’m actually from, in part because most people outside this region aren’t familiar with Hull, Quebec. And so, I’ll usually say Ottawa. Even my own phone doesn’t recognize the name of my hometown ...