My Boyfriend's Back...

Bruce returned home last night after THREE months of absence. PHEW!

And what a man:! He climbed the stairs to our apartment with a back pack on one shoulder, a guitar on the other, and roses in his hands for me....

It's so strange to see someone again after missing them for so long. There is a sensation of the surreal. Your mind and body have spent so long LONGING for them...only to get used to them not being around...and then suddenly, there they are walking up the stairs as though it was only yesterday that you watched them walk down. Time, that previously seemed so drawn out, comes crashing in on you and you feel three months compress in an instant, taking your breath away.

I was as amazed as Bruce was when I burst into tears!

We spent the next few hours, neither of us able to sit still, pacing around the apartment talking, talking, talking...Catching up on the things that only make sense in person. Amazingly we both slept well - which usually doesn't happen after we've been apart for so long. Now we enter into a phase of getting reacquainted - hoping that we still like each other, that we haven't changed so much as to be unrecognizable to the other! Not one to run out and marry a total stranger, I've requested that Bruce take the next 3 weeks to woo me....or I might not marry him! He seems keen to step up to the plate! We're having our "first date" tomorrow. I've been invited out for coffee on Toronto Island!

This morning we had brunch with 10 friends, the usual characters, to welcome Bruce home and bid farewell to Derek Flores. He's retired from the Second City (unscathed) and is off to do a three week Second City cruise ( maybe you never actually get out...like the MOB). I won't see Derek now until he arrives in Calgary to co-MC our wedding.....And THEN, thanks to Loose Moose, Bruce, Derek and I are off to Norway for our honeymoon!

Yes...well, I should explain! Loose Moose has been invited to a theatre festival in Oslo. Derek and I are joining fellow Moosers Shawn Kinley and Robbie M. to go and "represent". Initially we were meant to be accompanied by Steve McKidd as our sound improviser...but he had to back out. Bruce was invited to take his place....And we jumped at the opportunity for a FREE honeymoon!

I'll admit that I never pictured sharing my honeymoon with Derek Flores...but he is one of my oldest and best friends...and I've no doubt it will prove amusing! Also, I have the sinking feeling that Derek will be moving to New Zealand very soon to follow a romantic path...maybe even settle down....And while I am thrilled at my friend's courage in following his heart, I cannot help but feel sad at the thought of seeing him go. A honeymoon with Bruce and Derek will be a "hello" to married life with Bruce, and a "farewell" to an ugly, little man who occupies a very dear place in my heart.

I saw an amazing psychic a few years ago ( save your comments, even if you're not a believer...it's always great to pay someone to talk about YOU!).....who told me that one of the reasons I came back in this lifetime is to deal with abandonment, or rather the FEELING of abandonment. I'd say that my soul has done a great job of placing me in 'abandonment's path'. In following my bliss I've chosen a career which has led me to friends and a partner who are always leaving me!

So far....it still breaks my heart...But, I am learning that people who leave sometimes come back, and the most painful of absences can be erased in the time it takes to climb a flight of stairs.