My last few weeks in Toronto were fun because I was able to spend time with so many different and wonderful people before heading out of the country. On one such occasion, I went to a Fringe Festival Improv show called “I love you Toronto” with two of my oldest and favourite friends, Charlotte and Zoya. It was a good time – there was walking and biking and talking and laughing. I cannot imagine that there are two people with whom it’s better to see a show titled “I love Toronto” than these two ladies, because though we came together in Grimsby, we all three love Toronto (and each other, of course).
As Charlotte and I were wrapping up our sad goodbyes, hugging and crying on the corner of Harbord and St George, she handed me an envelope with instructions to open it only when I had arrived in Thailand. When we parted ways, I took it home and packed it into my suitcase, looking forward to opening what was surely another one Charlotte’s beautiful handmade cards. What I actually found inside was even better.
This morning, as I was repacking my suitcase, I found the envelope and realized that, like a fool, I had forgotten to open it when I’d first arrived. I sat down on the bed and tore it open to find a 8 pieces of beautiful paper, with a lovely letter written on the first page.
To my great delight, when flipped over and all laid out, the pages comprise a series of small and beautiful paintings for me to hang up when we find an apartment over here. I obviously cried, because again I was reminded how completely fantastic and thoughtful Charlotte is, and how lucky I am to know her.
It’s been hard at first to adjust to living in a foreign country, and these paintings were a perfect reminder of home and family at exactly the right time.
Charlotte, you truly are one of a kind – thank you!
Check out some photos of her beautiful artwork below (the poor quality in lighting and photo taking is all on me):
the stories that I'm telling. 