A few days ago, while driving on Route 2 towards Sultan, my Spotify Daily Mix playlist suddenly played a song I hadn’t heard in years. It was Republika’s “Biała Flaga” (“White Flag”), and the first verse was “Where are my friends?” (“Gdzie są moi przyjaciele?”). When I got home, the song was still in my head, and I kept asking myself this question: Where are our friends?

We left them behind when we moved. They left us behind when they moved. There were a few friendships from high school that survived our turbulent times and all the departures. Some lasted for years, but we stopped responding to their Christmas cards, and they stopped sending them. Some just faded away as we had nothing in common and nothing to say.

Then we ended up in Seattle and heard about the Seattle Freeze.

Years ago, when I lived in Montreal, the city would come alive once a year, with everyone getting out and moving. Since 1971, Canadians have been joining the ParticipACTION movement