Free shipping

Son is preparing to leave home for university in British Columbia, far away on the other side of this vast country.  It's a four-and-a-half hour flight. On an airplane. I won't describe the knots in my heart.

Last week son learned his room assignment in the halls of residence -- a shared double in Shuswap House, next to Kwakiutl House, both in Totem Park. (Toto, we're not in the Old World any more.) He and I have been wondering about how to outfit his dorm room. He asks about things like an extra computer monitor and electric strips; I'm talking duvets.

Student dormitory checklist (partial) from Bed, Bath, and Beyond

We are thinking it makes most sense to send the bulky items, like linens and towels, ahead of us rather than flying with numerous suitcases. Bed, Bath, and Beyond is the place to go, I’m told by experienced moms (aka my sisters). I look up the store’s US site: ‘Free shipping on orders over $29!’  it says. I try the Canadian one. ‘Free shipping on orders over $99!’ 

Honestly. The high cost of living in Canada, in black and white. Right there, in banner format. I start to fume. Two countries separated by a common dollar sign. I ask you. 

After I ungrit my teeth and release some steam, though, I calm down, breathe in, breathe out, and consider that in fact, this difference could reflect something deeper dividing the two nations. That $70, might, I estimate, represent the price of universal health care, of a focus on (though not yet the achievement of) tolerance, social inclusion and diversity, of a civil society aiming for a greater measure of civility than that in my native land, especially at the present electioneering moment.  

And, of course, the heating bill. 

It's a theory.