I arrived back into Toronto on Monday after a couple of weeks of travelling, the only plans I had made for the rest of March were to spend some time with a good friend and to do some organising at my place. I thought that March might be a good time to get these things done.
As I met my friend, someone very close to me that I've known for a good number of years, I sipped my coffee and listened to their story. Life has been hard for her as of late, she is about my age and has been battling cancer. She's someone I love, someone that I can go days or months without seeing yet whenever we are together it's like no time has passed, she accepts me without judgement, listens and provides wonderful counsel when needed. I can only hope I am half the friend to her as she is to me.
I sat, we talked, and we talked about all the mundane aspects of my life. Finally sensing we had a quiet little corner in our coffee shop, some space where we wouldn't be intruded on I asked about the latest test results and how life is marching forward.
She smiled, sipped her tea and said to me, "Oh that, the cancer," a pause as she looked away then back at me with a rather big grin, "cancer can suck it, it's not here anymore."
I remember the look on her face, the words and the world around us at that moment but I don't remember what I said after that or much else. I know tears welled up in my eyes and I struggled to keep them from falling, I remember feeling my lips turn up into a smile, all involuntary moves. Still the words we shared after seem to escape me. Relief, there was a lot of relief and questions but none of the information seems to have stayed with me, it's just all a blur.
I sipped my coffee, watched my friend with the huge smile on her face and watched the snow fall outside. I remember as we were saying goodbye we laughed at the absurdity of it being the first day of spring, the snow falling and the sun shining on. I remember her telling me that's how life felt, absurd, yet the sun was shining and spring was here and the snow wasn't able to stop that. I stood in the snow for some time on my way home, I felt it's wetness and enjoyed the mess it made on the street around me. I ruined a good pair of boots walking purposely through slushy puddles and listening to the sound of it sloshing under me, it felt fantastic.
I'm in Toronto from now until the end of April, I'll only be accepting a small number of dates but if you enjoy spending time with someone that is more than just statistics on a page, that believes a good date involves both the mind and body, then perhaps you should send me a message. In the meantime I'll be out enjoying the world around me and I hope that you do to.
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