The Making and Taking of a Life... Saturday, April 2

Early in the morning shots rang out.  I didn't hear them but there were five.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

I was asleep in my bed, all cozy in my covers, and off in La-La Land dreaming.  I woke up to my alarm clock buzzing, got ready, ate my breakfast, had my morning coffee, and then headed out the door to get my Go Train for Whitby.  I had a hair appointment to get to.  I later had lunch with my dad, then got back on the train to head back to Toronto.

I had a full day of life.

At 7:05pm a single gun shot rang out outside my window.  I jumped up from my bed like a jack in the box.  Police showed up, neighbours all stuck their heads out their windows, and then the police left.  Nothing became of it so I Goggled it.  Found nothing about it but I found something.

While I was out living life a young 27 year old was finishing his.  Five shots fired off a few blocks from my home and ended his life this morning.  He got shot and made it as far as a gas station where he then fell on the pavement and died.  There is still a marked up pavement there where his blood pooled and he died. 

Two different shootings by my home, one of them fatal and another one unmentioned.
 

THIS is not the Toronto I once knew.  It has gone all hardcore and tough since I've been gone.  I still don't know if I fit in here and am still struggling to make my own spot.  I don't want to find a spot, I'm an entrepreneur, a leader and a creator.  I want to make my own spot.

I made my own spot in Korea, a country I never thought I'd ever become more than a single, white chick teaching English.  If I made my spot there then I can make my spot here.  I'm not a minority here like in Korea but I still very much feel like a tourist at times.  Sometimes the question isn't where I can make my spot in Toronto but can I give up my spot in Korea.  Did I really walk away from it ...from it all?! Damn.