Escapism

So yeah, I haven’t updated this blog in nearly a month, but that’s because this post that I’ve been working on has really taken me a while to write.

I have spent the last couple of weeks or so trying to put  my thoughts into words over what transpired with me recently, in what will more than likely prove to be the highlight of my year, let along my entire summer. But after much hemming and hawing, here it goes:

At first glance, this appears to be your normal subdivision type home in Anywhere, USA. However, we’re in Canada on this occasion, and this locale in particular might be the one place where any sort of sanity in this strange thing we call life takes place.

Since about December of last year, and going into the start of this year, I had three goals in mind for 2011:

1. Get a full-time job in the field of journalism
2. Visit my best friend in Windsor
3. Attend a MLB game

Well, at the start of the year, I was able to get a full-time job at the Fort Frances Times as a sports reporter, so that goal was easily accomplished right off the hop. And while the goal of going to a baseball game proved to be out of reach for 2011 (but a top goal for 2012!), seeing my best friend Kaitlyn was still in the realm of possibility, and was eventually able to be worked out upon.

Now I should point out that going down to see Kaitlyn in Windsor is actually quite a common occurrence (Since 2005 I have gone down to visit her nearly a dozen times). But on my recent expeditions down there, the two of us were only able to actually see each other for a few fleeting moments in the grand scheme of things. And while I was still happy to see her no matter the amount of time that was available, both Kaitlyn and I felt that we hardly saw one another.

So since about May or so, this trip has been planned out to go and see Kaitlyn, and in the weeks and days before my trek down to Windsor (Which also included a visit back to the Sault) I was jumping off of the walls in excitement. But at the same time, I was also worried that maybe in my excitement, I would hype things up too much and end up being let down once the visit concluded.

But as Thom Yorke once wrote, there was nothing to fear, and nothing to doubt.

My two days with Kaitlyn went better than I could have imagined or dreamt in hindsight. Though in reality the stuff that we did may not seem all that exciting or adventurous to everyone else (We basically just chilled out and talked, did some shopping, had a Wii dance party, and drove around Essex County with Avril Lavigne songs blaring from the speakers), for me everything during the visit was just perfect.

My lasting memory of the trip will probably be the Tuesday evening, where Kaitlyn and I headed down to the waterfront near her place in Belle River, and the two of us just relaxed and talked about life and such, while I was getting splashed about by water crashing along the shore. Again nothing much in the grand scheme of things, but it turned out to be something that I will probably never forget for a long time.

But like everything, all good things eventually must come to an end, and Thursday saw me make the trek back up to Sault Ste. Marie.

The ride back from Windsor is always the worst, actually the morning of probably is the worst, because as you awake you realize that everything is about to come to an end.

In reality, I’m not really sure when I will see Kaitlyn again. It could be later this year, it could be further down the line. You just never know what will be around the corner. But the fact of the matter is, for the first time in what seems like forever, I haven’t a clue when I will see my best friend in person again, and that kind of bothers me a little bit.

But all I have to do is think about those two days that I got spend with her, and not only does that cheer me up, and it also reminds me that when I see her again in person, be it in Windsor or some other locale, it will be another amazing experience.

So for that, I say thank you Kaitlyn.

Thank you for it all.