bjarvis | Entries tagged with toronto

I identify with raccoons. They have great manual dexterity, they are incredibly adaptible, they're primarily nocturnal, and, when they're not raiding your garden late at night, they're pretty cute. And like me, they sometimes eat a lot of garbage.

Visiting Toronto is my opportunity to indulge in the nostalgic favourites of my childhood or young adulthood. Not all of them would be considered healthy habits. Well, practically none of them. But they taste sooooo good!

Me: *standing on the sidewalk, woofing down a slice of meat supreme pizza from Pizza Pizza*
Friend: You know that's trash pizza, right?
Me: Yes, but it's the trash pizza I used to eat at 2am during my walk of shame home from the bars in my twenties. Don't take that away from me.

In other guilty pleasures, I had a double burger from Harvey's, a small burger from A&W, the Thanksgiving special from Swiss Chalet, and any number of not-found-in-the-US chocolate bars. There was also a visit to the Bulk Barn which would bring shame to my ancestors as well as my Visa. Best not to talk about that.

I don't know that I've gained any weight from this shameful extravaganza --mostly because I've avoided stepping on a scale-- but there is much atonement at the gym in my near future, and possibly for the rest of my life. If there's any consolation to be found, it's that I had a clean bill of health recently before leaving the US so it's unlikely that this binge will kill my body. My soul might be is another matter, but hen again, it's been safely kept in storage for many decades so it should be mostly OK.

And now I'm hungry.

I flew into Buffalo, NY, last Wednesday to spend a few days in Toronto, ostensibly to see family at Thanksgiving and to ship home some personal items which were stored in my parents' basement until recently. It's been much more than that, of course.

I've walked a lot, seeing the same old sites I usually do when in town. I've frequently said I could walk through this city repeatedly until my feet bleed --and they did. The first full day, I logged well over 10 miles, from Pape & Danforth, west to Yonge & Bloor, south to the lakeshore, east a bit, then back north to Bloor again. It never gets old.

My feet were in severe pain Friday, but I went walking again, Pape & Danforth to Broadview, south to Gerrard, west to the downtown, all directions on various side streets, then south to Queen where I finally caved in and boarded a street car to Carlaw. I walked north back to my place from there.

Here, I feel lighter, faster, smarter, brighter & younger, more than anywhere else I've been except perhaps lower Manhattan. When I'm in Toronto, I really believe the sky is the limit and I can accomplish anything. There are no constraints, or at least nothing meaningful I couldn't overcome with a snap of my fingers. Everything is possible, all things are filled with potential, and nothing is beyond reach. Except returning here to live.

My biological family is in Canada, but my chosen family is in the DC area. Even if I could pry myself out of Silver Spring, I can't bring Kent & Michael back to Toronto. I can't bring the grandkids either. It wouldn't be fair of me to even try.

Whenever I cross the border into Canada no matter which province, I am seized by the feeling that my life in Canada is incomplete, an unfinished project. I don't know what my emotional self wants me to do, but it does distinctly shout that there is something urgent & large awaiting my attention where which has remained undone since I left in 1996. I am in Toronto and loving it, and yet am incomplete because I am in Toronto. I have no explanation.

At the moment, my only plan is to make more frequent trips back to Canada, maybe 3-4 times per year instead of annually. My grandma isnt' getting any younger, my parents are ailing, my aunts & uncles are fading away. There is so little time left before the generation before mine is gone and I must do what I can with the time that is left.

cuyahogarvr,

kent4str and I are coming to Toronto for a few days at the end of this week. Who'd like to get together for a lunch or dinner?

We're arriving in Toronto around lunchtime on Friday.

trawnapanda (and anyone else in the vicinity of U of T)... how about Swiss Chalet on Bloor for lunch? We have to get our Swiss Chalet fix in at some point.

On Friday evening, we're taking our hosts John & Chris out for dinner in the vicinity of Pape & Danforth... anyone want to join us?

Saturday morning, we're hitting the St Lawrence Market, then touring through the downtown.

brunorepublic, you available to join us?

We have the afternoon & evening with family in Mississauga near the airport. I'm not sure how late we're staying but we might be able to meet up with friends for a drink or dessert afterwards --

emramesha and

london_bill, we're thinking of you.

We have no plans for Sunday morning or lunch but we have to head to Niagara Falls, NY, in the mid-afternoon. If my grandmother can't join our family gig in Mississauga Saturday, we may need that time to go visit her directly in Drumbo, ON. TBD.

danthered,

bitterlawngnome,

djjo,

vaneramos,