Real Life Meet Cute
Last night, around 2am, I was riding my bike home from the Toronto Fringe Tent. It had been a great day. Along with my good friends Chris and Tara, I had seen three completely different shows: Shevil (a campy musical), Caws and Effect (an amazing shadow puppet show), and The Philanderess (a farcical adaptation of a Shaw play). I had been at the tent socializing and doing the hustle (promoting my show - not dancing. But maybe I’ll add that into my pitch.) I was ending the day feeling pretty darn swell; I’d run into several people who had seen this year’s show and loved it, or had seen last year’s show, “SLUT”, and couldn’t stop raving about it. I’m always proud of the work I put on stage, and I’m always amazed and honoured that other people like it too.
But back to the bike ride.
Taking my usual route home, I pull up at a stop light next to a fellow bicyclist with way more cred than me (he’s riding a fixie.) He comments on how nice it is that it’s finally t-shirt weather at night, and since we’re heading in the same direction, we begin to ride side-by-side as we talk. Coincidentally, I’m Erin and he’s Aaron. He’s from New York and has only been in Toronto for a little over a year. I wouldn’t have guessed that since he opened the conversation with a very Canadian comment on the weather.
(Aside: if there are any non-Canadians reading this, the appropriate ways to open a conversation in Canada are pretty limited, and most are tied to the weather.)
Anyway, we talk about our neighbourhoods, and his work, and my work, and as we wait at another stop light I flyer him for my show, “Meet Cute”.
He laughs. He’s already seen it. He came to opening night on Thursday with a date who suggested going to the Fringe and wanted to see something romcom-y. I laugh too and ask how the date went. He said there will probably be a second, and we continue on our way, continuing to chat and chuckle about life. He turns before I do, and we say goodnight, both happy to have met a new friend. I finish my ride home grinning, once again surprised but not shocked by the small town feel of the big city, and the wonderful synchronicity that occurs in the randomness of life.