View from Signal Hill, taken this past summer.
I have a friend who isn't thirty yet. We met aeons ago in a writing workshop in Toronto and took a shine to each other. I'm old enough to be her grandmother if I think about that aspect of it, but I rarely do. We like the same food and each other's writing and each other's unique qualities. She flew to St. John's from Toronto where she lives for 6 days recently so she could touch the ground here and walk the streets and meditate around and around Signal Hill. Signal Hill didn't feel the same about her as it hadn't let go of its snow and ice yet.
But she was up for the challenge with her weighty boots ("you should get a pair of Blundstones" she tells me). Her luggage never arrived but that didn't phase her. She just borrowed a few bits and stated several times, all you need is underwear and two pairs of socks and you're good to go, and viewed the non-arrival of her luggage as a touchstone to more simple living.
We walked around our hilly city for a while and then settled on Indian food. We were both craving it. She guided me to a hole in the wall, International Flavours, I hadn't really noticed before then. A mother and son ran it. And the food! Oh to die! I will go back and think of her each time.
She startled when I mentioned one of her characters from years ago. She confessed with tears in her eyes that she's had writer's block for over seven years and can't even write her thesis, a final qualification on her journey to being a doctor of Chinese medicine. "But," she said, "I am so thrilled you remember my Fanny as this was part of my little sojourn here, to see if Fanny would speak to me again. And she has this morning as I meditated and now you bring her up too!!"
She then proceeded to list out and have me write down all her artistic contacts (she was a cinematographer in her very early twenties in St. John's)here in Newfoundland.
And the really splendid part of our get-together? She made me feel eternally young and just full of possibilities.
I like your friend's down-to-earth approach to luggage and the absence thereof. And how nice that while she was with you she got reacquainted with her long-lost fictional character.
ReplyDeleteI like your friend's down-to-earth approach to luggage and the absence thereof. And how nice that while she was with you she got reacquainted with her long-lost fictional character.
ReplyDeleteSynchronicity strikes again. Just see how many things had to precede that moment of epiphany!
ReplyDeleteI like you sharing
ReplyDeleteand reminds me that sometimes
in a friendship there is no age
just a heart and soul
connection.
I have felt this a few times
in my long journey on this earth...
No wonder your young friend is fond of you. I would love to be near enough to sit and have a meal with you and sort out the world. I am sitting playing with my new toy and first thing I do is finding your blog and reading all recent posts. Commenting with finger typing is taking ages but I want to tell you how much I appreciate tour rants, happy posts and everything in between.
ReplyDeleteGreetings, dear www.
One finger typing!
ReplyDeleteI do love synchronicty!
ReplyDeleteNick:
ReplyDeleteIt was rather awesome, she was stunned I'd remembered her Fanny.
XO
WWW
PS Apropos previous convos - you can see how I give t'other my full attention always?
Xo
WWW
Yes, Ramana, it is so amazing that life overflows with them we only have to look.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
Ah Friko:
ReplyDeleteHave you been gadgeted? Sounds like. I do hope you're not hurt from all the gardening?
XO
WWW
SAW:
ReplyDeleteAh I think we're all fans of it here!!
XO
WWW
How lovely is the way you write about her--so able to see her gifts and specialness. The two of you together are something special, clearly.
ReplyDeletethank you Jocelyn and welcome to my humble blog!!
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW