Try an Adventure

Love, like life, should be an adventure. We should go into it with an open heart, full of wonder and excitement. An open heart can be a scary thing, but it is necessary to experience all the journey can offer. Planning the adventure, trying to anticipate all the twists and turns, make it less adventurous.

With hard work the outcome can be amazing, like climbing a treacherous mountain with little or no equipment. When you finally reach the top, the view is spectacular and fills you with awe and a sense of calm and peace as well as a sense of achievement. You could never have experienced that without the danger of the climb. 

Sometimes the outcome can be dark, like finding yourself in a dark and tangled forest. Each turn seems to plunge you in deeper and a way out seems impossible. However, there is always a way out, with effort and help there is always a way out. And when the way becomes clear and the other side is within reach, daylight never seemed better. Knowing that we have made it through is a lesson that we should always remember. It is one of life’s most important lessons.

Sometimes it can feel like you are in over your head, like swimming out too far from the beach, the waves pushing you farther and farther away, becoming too tired to fight your way back. With determination and focus the seemingly impossible can be achieved. And there is always the lifeguard on duty, who is there to help. All you need to do is wave your arms and let them know you are in trouble and help is on the way. Always ask for help. 

Adventures can offer so much more if we are willing to take a risk now and then. Trying something new can be exhilarating and exciting; experiencing feelings we’ve never had before. Without the experience we can never know the true extent of our emotions.

The experience can go both ways. It can hurt us and it can exhilarate us. We should never shy away from the opportunity of an adventure, as long as we take lessons from the experience, and know our limitations, we will be fine.

There is, of course, a time to take a break from the journey. A time to just relax and take a breath or two, but don’t wait too long to get back on the road. Opportunity comes in many forms, and you don’t want to miss it.

I have an adventure this weekend that I wasn’t even looking for, but as soon as it presented itself I grabbed it. I can’t plan its outcome, I can only go along for the ride and take from it what I want.

So get out there and have an adventure.

Lockport New York

I wanted a Cricut for my card making and paper crafting, but they are really expensive, and the shipping is ridiculous. I check on Craigslist, and there was nothing here close to Toronto, so I checked out Buffalo N.Y. to see if anyone had one there. I found one for $100, and contacted the seller to see if she would be willing to mail it to Canada. She said if I was willing to pay she would send it. Then she said that she sometimes came up to Burlington, Ontario to go to Ikea. If I could wait for their next trip, then we could meet there. I checked the train fare, $17.50 return, way cheaper that the shipping would be, so I agreed.

I met Maria and her husband Bob in May at the train station. They drove us to Swiss Chalet for lunch. We had so much in common. Maria, stamps and scrapbooks, she teaches special needs adults crafts once a week. We hit it off immediately. They drove me back to the station, handed me the Cricut, and as we said our goodbyes, she invited me to go and stay with her over the summer. I said I would.

My friend Vanessa and I took Megabus to Niagara Falls during the first week of July, walked across the Rainbow Bridge, through customs, (only to be drilled about why we were there, how long I had known the person we were visiting, how did I know her, if I had met her in person etc. etc!) and met Maria at an ice cream shop. We drove about an hour to her hobby farm, walked around her acre and a 1/3rd, checking out her chickens,

vegetable garden

and hammock.

We stayed for 4 days, sleeping in Mae's room, (Maria's mom). Elliot and Olivia, seemed excited to see us, and loved the bandanas and key chains I brought with me.

We spent time in the garden, weeding, sleeping, relaxing, and on July 4th we were invited to a fireworks display like I've never seen before. We were almost directly underneath them, and I behaved like a kid seeing fireworks for the first time!

We went shopping in Amish country, buying gluten-free stuff for me, lavender for Vanessa and cheese for Maria.

I also went shopping in Michaels for craft supplies, and to a stamping shop where Maria shops as well as a quaint shop carrying all sorts of amazing things, selling blankets, bags, backpacks and more made from very bright materials.

We returned to Canada too soon, this time Maria and Bob driving us right to the bus stop.  I promised once again that I would return to visit before the summer was over.

What a great time I had. Making new friends, relaxing, seeing parts of New York that I have never seen. The countryside is so beautiful, peaceful and calm.

Another one bites the dust

I met Larry after a quick contact on POF, at the Distillery District, one of my favourite places for first dates.

He is 53, 5'11" and wants a long term relationship with a woman who share his love of outdoors. He doesn't smoke, do drugs or has any 'baggage'. Sounds good, right?

We met, and got ourselves a drink and decided to sit outside. We talked about our family, job, activities we like, the usual. All seemed to be going really well. Then after an hour or so, a large family sat near us, and were very loud. I asked if he'd like to go for a walk, to which he answered, "you're like me, you don't like to be crowded". So we set off to walk around. A minute later I saw a friend of mine from school. Larry asked me what I was looking at and I asked him to excuse me for a minute so that I could say hi to my friend. I walked over and gave Peter a hug, and he introduced me to his boyfriend, and another friend who was taking their picture. I said it looked like engagement pictures, to which he laughed and said they were just having fun. He asked me what I was doing there and I said I was on a first date, I turned to introduce him to Larry, but he had vanished. I scanned all over, and finally saw him about 100 metres away. Peter told me to go. I went over to Larry, and he said, "Well I'm sure you have things to do, I am going to my car and it's that way" he pointed the opposite direction to where I lived. I was going to say that I didn't have anything to do, but said instead that I had a good time, and that I felt we had hit it off. He said, "Keep in touch," so I knew that meant he wasn't interested.

When I got home I shot off an email saying again that I had a good time, and he said again, lets keep in touch.

I never heard from him again. Could it be that he was so shallow as to be homophobic? Everything was going well until I spoke to Peter.

Oh well, better to find out now rather than later!

Wild and Wonderful Weekend

Last weekend made up for my crappy uneventful summer vacation.

It began with my monthly Board Games Night. I usually invite the Meetin group and sometimes the couchsurfing group. This time I invited both groups, plus the MeetUp games group. I had a fantastic turn out of over 30 people. We had great food, drinks, fun and socializing. The best ever to date.

It continued with me dressing in Red and White for a Flash Mob especially for TIFF. Check out the You Tube video, I am at 1:20 on the left side. It was so funny, people stopped to try to get a glimpse of someone famous.

I followed that with a ride down to Harbourfront where I partook of delicious foods at the Vegetarian Food Festival. I ate at Govinda's the Hare Krishna food stand. Delicious and only $6. I sampled other foods, and bought some Hemp milk. I found a lovely hair accessory that was made in South Africa. I also signed up for Front Door Organics, and will expect my first order of fresh organic fruits and vegetables grown in Ontario to be delivered on September 23.

Then at 5pm I called a friend who surfed my couch last year for TIFF. He is a screen writer, and although he wasn't staying with me this year, he mentioned that he'd like to take me out for a vegetarian meal. He told me that he had been really busy, and wanted to know if I might be available to attend an after party for a movie that he was seeing. Of course I said yes. He said that he was waiting to hear from a couple of other guests that he had invited, but if he didn't hear from them in the next hour, then he'd call back and tell me where the event was taking place. He said I'd need some sort of cocktail dress. So after hanging up, I ran up the street to Winners and bought myself a great dress and got back just in time for his 6pm phone call telling me where to meet him.

The movie he saw was "Get Low". As I waited for him to arrive at Atelier I watched the cars arrive and out of the first one was Sissy Spacek. She was followed by Robert Duvall and then a young star I wasn't familiar with, Lucas Black. And finally Bill Murray showed up. Eventually my friend Martin showed up and we went in. What a great night. I met some cute young guys who took an interest in me, and I spent the majority of the night with them. Martin left after an hour as he said he had other stuff to do. The 2 young guys took me to another club after, and we danced the night away.

Sunday arrived and I was feeling excited about the day. I met up with some couchsurfing friends at the corner of Yonge and Dundas for a 'Free Hugs' event. I made a sign earlier and held it above my head and gave out hundreds of hugs. It was so energizing and made me feel so good. I had a number of people comment that I gave great hugs. One person went as far as to say I gave out 'Mom' hugs! One group of friend were leaving, but I just wanted to keep going! I stayed and then another group joined me. I actually met a few people that I knew, and 2 of them hugged me before they even realized it was me! When it was time to stop, again I felt that I wanted to go on hugging people. But since everyone was leaving it wouldn't have been safe to do it by myself. I did have a few propositions whilst hugging some guys, as well as a couple of sneaky kisses and a bum smack!

So that was my amazing weekend, full of excitement and fun.

Unfortunately this weekend will be nothing to compare as I have a sore throat, and all I want to do is sleep.