I STILL love you —From Me

Holy Hotness. To the Chinese guy with the moves like buttah and smile that made my heart melt at the Party Boots Show: I owe you a beer. Thanks for killing the dance floor and burning that guy who thought he knew how to do a proper Russian step! Hopefully I run into you at Jazzfest! All I wanna do is hustle. Mhmmm, xo —1 step forward, 2 steps back

Tonight, June 30, you sat down next to me at the Dartmouth Bridge Terminal. You were wearing a bandana and had an amazing smile. We chatted a bit and I gave you a cigarette instead of you rolling a smoke. I was going to ask you your name and for your phone number and just take a risk, but I chickened out. Silly me. What was the worse thing that could happen? I wish I would have just done it. Now I'll probably never have that opportunity again. —Awkward shy girl

"When you are alone — at sea, in the polar dark — an absence can keep you alive. The one you love maintains your mind. But when she's merely across the city, this is an absence that eats you to the bone."

I think of that excerpt from Anne Michaels' Fugitive Pieces when I miss you, and I miss you more now that you're back than I did when you were away. I think of that excerpt an awful lot. —From me (again)

After three years of living in Halifax during the summers as a university student, I had to move back home to my small town this summer because of Hali's not-so-cheap rent situation. Oh Halifax, how I miss you every day. I did not expect to miss you at all, let alone this much. I miss your busy people, your ocean, your constant reminder that I am so small and just one of these humans wandering around not knowing what I'm doing. In my hometown I am constantly reminded of sedentary life, things not changing, people not growing. Settling with the same old, same old. Being in relationships that kill them slowly. Where is the uncertainty, the excitement, the waves of new ideas and perspectives? The wanderlust? The WANT TO BE SOMETHING MORE? I feel as though I am drowning in the small-town attitude. Halifax, I will be back in September. I cannot rush this beautiful summer (or valuable time spent with my loving family). However, I now realize you give me something that my small town will never be able to...an opportunity to be myself, wide-open and whole-heartedly. Thank you. See you soon, my dear Halifax. —SmallTownGirl