Far and Away

Well, here I am in Toronto, after flying all night and driving rush hour traffic into the city on 3 hours sleep. Funny, after all the miles I've racked up this year; all the hassles; every irritation, new time zone, and night of no sleep; I still love it. I'm not jaded at all.

Ok, let's be honest. I'm jaded about stupid things like overhead compartments, security lines, and tourist traps. But I watched the sun rise this morning from 30,000 feet, and it filled me with joy. When I walked off the plane, I immediately smiled and thought, Oh Canada, I missed you! Even though I'm so exhausted that I'm barely being held together with caffeine and willpower, I'm thrilled to get out into the new and unfamiliar streets. This makes me happier than anything.

There's another good sign this trip: I've been meeting people. My old friend and former co-dependent meets lots of folks like this on work travel, and calls them single-serving friends. It's a perfect description. These are the strangers you bump into on a plane, in a hotel bar, riding the airport shuttle; you pass the time together for a while, make a brief connection, then go your separate ways.

I've been largely in hermit mode since a couple of last summer's random events knocked me down. Making temporary friends of whoever's nearby is fun, and I haven't been doing much of it lately, so this is a good sign. Sure, I still hate Seattle, and I want to make some changes, but being this social means things are looking up for me.

Now, if I can only choke down the rest of this terrible coffee and resist the urge to curl up in my giant comfy hotel bed, I'm going out to find some single-serving Canadians... and maybe see some of the city too.