I have no patience for ridiculous traffic, and so I make it
a policy to NOT go away on long weekend.
Not Labour Day, Simcoe Day, Canada Day or the glorious Victoria Day
weekend, presently upon us and better known as the “May 2-4” weekend.
This weekend was no exception. The Boo, (my better half who would rather not
have an on-line identity – and may be the only person I know that cannot be
found by Google) and I started out day with our planned Hair Styling at the
Loft Toronto at Queen and Bathurst.
(Sylvie is a genius and an awesome woman… go there for all of your hair
needs, concerns, aspirations and dreams…
just saying). After our
appointments we were released onto Queen West about 1130 and we began to walk…
we walked west to Gladstone, north to Dundas, back East to Ossington, south
again to Queen… stopped for branch and cocktails at County General and then
slipped over to Trinity Bellwoods park where we walked some more, sat a little
and become more human.
Let me back up… we walk because we like to look at people
and at life. The shops along Queen are
fascinating, the people with their babies… and their dogs… and their coffees…
and their smartphones… and their beards…. and their yoga pants… It’s a cavalcade of Torontonians. Walking through the residential areas watching octogenarians tending to tiny perfect
lawns and elaborate gardens with blinding white statuary, fountains, artificial
and very real flowers – just makes me smile from deep within my very being. The cultural integration has exceeded
the vision of a Russian Orthodox Church in the midst of a Little Portugal to
include Chinese, Vietnamese , Italian and Hipster (surely their culture has a
distant national origin?) and it is glorious.
The Boo and I would have been satisfied with our walk had we headed home
after brunch at County General.
But instead of moving on, we decided to hang out at the
park. Not just any park – the spectacular
Trinity Bellwoods Park. Having passed
through the gates we were greeted by hundreds upon hundreds of people – a woman
in an insulated coat with a wool hat making her way around two women sunbathing
in bikinis… dogs of every shape and size known to creation… children running
and squealing; playing on slides and swings; digging in a giant mound of dirt…
some vulnerable seniors from John Gibson House getting some air and enjoying
the day… picnickers… a young man taking pictures for a George Brown College
Photo Exhibit (he asked, I posed… I’m no
Bieber or Schumer)… young people walking (or attempting to walk) slack ropes
strung between posts, there was every hue and colour imaginable, every shape
and style of hair and beard (including the ever popular, forked beard). If there is an objective scale for beauty, we
saw some very beautiful people, some less beautiful folk and some down-right
ugly people – but they were all radiant, glorious and attractive. We walked and watched… we sat and watched… and my dry parched soul become supple and
moist; it grew shoots of new life and I began to be Spring.
When I am busy or shut in by winter, I have little time for
the superfluous, so I tend to focus on the people that I need and the people
that I know. Most of them, tend to be
like me… similar tastes, skills, looks… take a picture and you’ll note that “He
looks different”; “She’s a ginger” – but, like Taylor Swift, I have a Squad
(although most of them probably don’t know that they are in my Squad…. Hey, maybe I’m in Taylor’s but just don’t know
it??). A day at Trinity Bellwoods, for
me, reminds me that there is more to humanity than the people that I typically
prefer and to whom I usually defer: More than my squad. There are all sorts of people out there – humanity is vast and awesome… (but seriously, Tay-Tay, if you're reading this, I am Squad available)
Walking, sitting, soaking it in, I didn’t notice one Trump
Supporter, I didn’t recognize one Wynne Detractor or Pipe-Line Protester… I saw
lots of elbows flying, but no assaults were announced… I didn’t notice one
Christian, Muslim, Jain, Atheist, Cavalier or Raptor… it was just a sea (or a lake) or humanity and
it made me feel connected. I have no
doubt that all of the above sub-groups and individuals noted above were in the
Park with me yesterday… but it would seem that we all decided to let down our
walls, fill in our moats and just be human.
Ridiculous, Glorious, Hilarious, Amazing… human. From time to time, I need to be reminded that humanity is vast; I do not exclusively define it... and I am not alone. Even if I want to be. I am part of something so grand, so diverse and so joyous that the only fitting response is "Awe". You may remember that last week it snowed and it was awful... yesterday, in the park, it was "Awe-filled" and I'm glad that I didn't miss it.
