By the time I had a cup of tea at Uncommon Grounds and made purchases at both Carbonstock and Turbine Boutique for the Downtown Business Commission’s Big Day Downtown… I was left with 8 bucks on the prepaid $100 Visa Card and an extra beat in my heart for a wonderful day spent with my Mom.
As evening arrived, I hooked up with Crazy, Dish and Crazy’s fabulous friend Marie (in town visiting from Kelowna) for one of our infamous… not to be missed… “Girl’s Night Out” escapades.
As anyone who reads this blog knows, I’m a big fan of Paul Lamb and Cory Tetford and quite enjoy attending the Lower Deck’s matinees. So, for the icing on the cake of my Big Day Downtown, that’s exactly where I headed. Oh yeah… “Try Something New”… well… ummmmmmm… I had a Club Sandwich instead of my regular order of fabulous nachos sooooo… that counts right??
Anyway… the music… the atmosphere… it always puts a smile on my face and quite often it’s exactly what I need at the end of a crazy week. In fact, this last month as I’ve found myself heading across the bridge to NSCC’s Waterfront Campus… questioning my sanity and the reasons that found me on the bridge in the first place… I’ve hit the play button on my car’s CD player more than once… just so Paul’s music could put me in the right frame of mind to go about my day.
I’m not entirely sure why it warms me inside… but if I really thought about it… it’s the comfort… the feeling of being home… my brother playing the guitar… my sister in-law belting out Folsum Prison Blues… my cousin giggling while my family is singing as we’re gathered around guitars, seventies nostalgic songs and traditional Newfoundland music! It’s shepherd’s pie and jiggs dinners… peas pudding and apple pie. It’s flying across the Atlantic and suddenly seeing the cliffs of the island… turning the corner and seeing my Poppy’s forge… feeling my Nans’ hugs. It all comes back with the smile that’s plastered on my face each time Cory closes his eyes to hit the high notes of Georgia and Paul pulls out his harmonica or chuckles over something that’s tickled his funny bone… “Look… Fish!” It’s home. Without realizing it, those boys gave me a taste of home on the very days I needed it the most.
The Downtown Business Commission gave me a hundred bucks to “Try Something New” but the thing is… for the last few years… that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. It’s how I became friends with Paul and Cory to begin with. It’s how my Tweeps… Gwen and Carolyn… have come in my life and how I never want them to leave. It’s how I met an amazing woman named Claudia who, like me, is trying to find her new place in this world. It’s how I became friends with Joe McGuinness at Durty Nelly’s. How I laughed endlessly at the Economy Shoe Shop and Our Bicycle Thief. How Lorna and Caroline have made space for me in their busy lives and even when we’re running in different directions and they head to Chester for sailing adventures… the friendship remains. It’s how I reconnected with folks I hadn’t seen in years, met new friends, went down a water slide, pumped my own gas, took my kids on a road trip, started this blog and ended up back at school. I know first hand how important it is to “Try Something New”… how very difficult it is to put yourself out there but how incredibly rewarding it is. You discover who you are… welcome new people and adventures into your life… and have a parade of loved ones behind you proudly supporting and encouraging you every step of the way.
Check out the various blogs about the adventures folks had while discovering exciting places and meeting new friends. Get out there… try something new! I did… and I’m having a ball.