I remember being 21 years old, a couple months after leaving Europe, still on a high. I met a younger guy- a mere 16 years old, who had the most pure heart and magnetic aura of anyone I’d ever met, at a party of my brother’s. He was a poet, a vegan and loved the internet just as much as I did.
One of the first evenings we spent alone, we connected in a way that I still don’t fully believe to this day: we spent hours transmitting messages, symbols and colours from his mind to mine without words. It sounds so stupid to try to explain it to anyone, but I believe that it was real. He and I would touch hands, clear our minds and he would think of something (a number, letter, colour, etc) and by the time I lifted my head so that our eyes met, whatever he was thinking of entered my mind- clear as day. 9/10 times, I was right (or at least he told me that my “guess” was correct), for hours upon hours.
We were together and in love for a year and a half in my early years. We haven’t spoken in more than two years. I’ll never forget his purity.
***
I remember the night before I left for the University of Waterloo. I was 18 years old and my dearest friend and I walked along my favorite Nova Scotian beach, climbed up a big hill and sat for a couple of hours and looked out at the ocean. In the distance we could see a faint thunder and lightening storm. The wind was crisp and I felt so sad to be leaving my old life behind. That was one of the most special nights of my life.
This dear friend hasn’t been in my life for more years than I can remember. I miss him very much, even though he wasn’t all that nice to me. I hate how that works.
***
I remember in September of 2005, after a long day of travelling, flying in the smallest plane that I’d never jumped out of, from Puerto Rico to the British Virgin Island of Tortola, eyes welling up because it was… I wasn’t even sure. I’d never been to such a beautiful place before, and I could hardly see what I was looking at anyway because it was pitch black. Although we were flying low, the islands tend to be fairly uninhabited, so all we could see were the odd street lights on the land-speckled water.
***
I remember being angry at my step-dad when I was a kid and my sister and I decided to run away. We figured that because we were going to be gone for a long time, the best place to run away to was our mini-trailer (parked next to our driveway). We packed a can of pineapple and some raisins and a few other things to survive on. We were gone for about an hour before we got hungry, and we were caught sneaking back into the house looking for a can opener to open our can of pineapple. Plans were foiled.
