Archive for October 9th, 2009
If you’ve watched Julie + Rich’s wedding slideshow, this photo is at 4:53 and one of my favourite photos of the day. His little suit and shoes are simply adorable, and I managed to catch him in action! This is exactly the kind of photo I love to capture at weddings.
[I would've posted this last night, but my power was out!]
Today Yesterday would’ve been Arliin’s 50th birthday, and if she were alive she would either be horrified that I’m broadcasting this on the internet or I would be placating her at the pub with several rounds of Guinness, her drink of choice. Maybe even both. I guess I’ll never find out, because she’s not around to get angry about it. But that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten the day. Or the milestone.
When I think of Toronto I can’t help but think of Arliin. It’s more than the fact that her cats — Beano and Xena — are my housemates here. The truth is, the whole city reminds me of her because she knew it so well and shared it with me, unreservedly.
Arliin found me through this website while Googling something Dutch-related on the internet, and kept reading. She introduced herself to me in August 2006, about five months after I moved to Toronto. Which is amazing in itself since she was a self-admitted Luddite, didn’t own a computer (only used one at work), kept a paper calendar and didn’t own a cell phone or even an answering machine. Basically, we were opposites.
Those first five months in Toronto were rough due to some horrendous experiences some of you might remember: the movers who tried to extort more money from me by threatening to drive off with my belongings; Hugh’s illness and death; the charity event that went horribly wrong; debilitating depression and social anxiety; overzealous U.S. border officers; meanwhile everything in Pennsylvania was being sold off (the house, the airplane) — and that was just within the first few months. It’s a wonder I stuck around, really. I have no family here, and the few people I knew either disappeared or were constantly out of town. Thinking back to those days, Arliin could not have picked a worse time to befriend me — I was a very inconsolable kind of miserable and angry with the universe. But the amazing part was she did, and I am forever grateful to Arliin for being a friend to me, a complete stranger from the internet, in the darkest part of my life.
Arliin was a really good listener, and as I discovered, good listeners are a rare breed. We talked. A lot. About everything. Little did we know our time together would be so short — she was gone less than a year and a half later of unknown causes. I associate many things with Arliin: cats, horses, live music, running, baseball, rowing (pretty much all sporting events), and the last couple of times I was at the Air Canada Centre for hockey and basketball I imagined her there. Arliin was into so many things, she was my go-to person for activities in this city.
Xena and Beano and I are still taking care of each other, Arliin, but we wish we had more time with you!
images & text © 2002-2010 All Rights Reserved by Gail Edwin-Fielding.
Wordpress Theme Made Free by Web Hosting Refer
Recent Comments