Wanted to return home – Wayne Chamberlain

I¹ve always heard it said you can never go home again, which I¹ve found

To be a strange concept. I may have lived almost half my life away from

Sudbury, but a part of me never really left.

I first departed the city at 18, moving south like so many of my

generation.  School beckoned and hopes of a career in the film or television industry drove me to Toronto.

Eight years later, I returned with a diploma, experience in the

business, but no real means of supporting myself. The best I could do was a

part-time job in Elliot Lake working for Northern Cable. Within two years, I was laid off.

At that point, I returned to Sudbury and spent two years at Cambrian

College, where I studied journalism. From there, it was on the road for

another eight years, with stops in Grande Prairie, Alta., and Niagara

Falls.

But Sudbury ‹ or, more specifically, my home in Valley East ‹ was never

Far from my thoughts. In fact, ever since my son was born in 1999, I¹ve

Wanted nothing more than to return home. That desire further increased when my daughter

was born a few years back. Finally, an opportunity presented itself and here I am.  

It¹s strange to drive around this city and walk the malls. There are few

people my age living here anymore. It¹s rare to recognize anyone.

And while that¹s disturbing because of the implications it holds for the

future of this unofficial capital of Northern Ontario, I can¹t help but

think there are others like me out there who wish there were

opportunities to return to the fold, so to speak.

While many of today¹s teens decry the lack of services, entertainment

Venues and outlets for them ‹remarkably similar arguments my peers were making in the late 1980s 

‹Sudbury still has many good things to offer>. Unfortunately, I think those attributes are lost on people

who only see the road ahead and are not cognizant of how far they¹ve already come.

The simple beauty of this place struck me the first night my wife and I

Took a walk after work. We¹d put the kids to bed, with gram and grampa there to ensure their safety, 

and took the two dogs for a jaunt at about 9 p.m.

The fact the air was clean enough to see the stars was impressive, but that

paled, literally, next to the strands of pale jade piercing the sky.

It has been years since I¹ve seen the northern lights. It actually took a

few seconds to realize they weren¹t the beams of the cheesy rotating

giant lights set up near the Fallsview Casino Niagara Resort. No, this was

actual nature on display and, for the first time in four years, I didn¹t have

to shell out money to witness it.

It¹s good to be home ­ again.

Wayne Chamberlain is the Sudbury Star¹s Lifestyles Editor. You can

Reach him at 674-5271, ext. 233.

Feel Special - Margot Desormeaux

There are so many good things that I like about Sudbury that it is hard to know where to start. The people are most interesting. The city is large enough that you can make new friends, yet small enough, so that when you are in a different part of town, there is a good chance that you will run into someone you know or who knows you. We are a city where people remember your face and say hello to you like you are an old friend. I always feel special when this happens.

Favorite Big City - Bonnie and Ken

Well now that I can tell my friends that not only does Sudbury have 
everything that I could ever want in my closest to home (Elliot Lake) 
big city but now they'll be blue with envy when I tell them about the 
blueberry festival! We're making note of the date and we'll see you
there!

Bonnie Ladelle - Elliot Lake

Picked blueberries - Lee Armstrong

I grew up in Sudbury and work down south for over 30 years. my daughter loved it so much she moved to Sudbury 3 years ago and now i am here enjoying my daughter , son in law and beautiful grandchildren, raven 6, kaitlyn 2, and hannah 3 months. As a child my father use to bring us to a place we called blueberry hill , across some train trestle, I no longer remember where. and we picked blueberries all day and the best part was to eat them with cream and sugar

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