An unexpected adventure...feeling alive

Last night was a whirlwind in the city.  I agreed to me Ben for a drink before his dinner reservation with friends.  It was only 5 min from where I lived and I'd hoped to use the rest of the night to relax, clean and get some sleep...little did I know what the night had in store.

We met at Weslodge and had a great conversation. His dinner was around the corner at Patria. Before we realized the time, his friends had stumbled into Weslodge thinking it was Patria.  We stayed for another round, as I planned to head out, Ben pulled me close and whispered in my ear not to go...he asked me to join for dinner.  It was sweet and his friends were fun...so I agreed.  

Dinner was amazing.  Although I'd been at Patria only a few nights prior, the restaurant still managed to deliver an extraordinary experience. The adventurous side of Ben removed all of our menus and gave the server free reign to surprise us.  One dish after another appeared at the table.  Conversation flowed, his friends were amazing, it felt like a group I'd known.  As dinner wound down, Ben leaned over, and made his next request more publicly, offering me the choice to call it a night or join them for a tour of the west end nightlife.  Then revoked the choice and announced we were heading to the next destination.  Without blinking an eye the bill had been taken care of, and we were whisked into a taxi to Queen West.  A friend was djing at a local spot.  The music was old but familiar and a glance around the room, and I noticed though most people were my age, every person who walked through the door burst into full out song as the music of a generation before us blared on the speakers.  It was easy, fun, refreshing.  Barely finished our round we were back in a cab and on our way back to King West.  

We arrived at the Thompson shortly after midnight, the bar was lined up down the street. Ben did his thing and we were on our way to the rooftop to share the view of the city aglow.  We laughed and danced and admired the variety around the room. Every shape, size and status surrounded us.  Another round down, I was ready to quit... We stepped out into the rain.  We were all in a great mood as we decided to make one last stop at a whole in the wall on King West.  The bar was packed...it was sloppy hour.  There was a loving sense around the room as we all watched the "hungry eyes" sizing up their last chance to grab onto someone before the evening ended.  The music again hit the spot.  Some amazing tunes with great energy.  Before I knew it Ben had swept me up jumping and danci, leadi me around the small space available to us.  The group of us were sweating, laughing and singing at the top of our lungs.  And here I'd planned to wash my floors tonight...

As the night wound down, Ben walked me home. It was a night I never saw coming, yet every corner we turned was full of fun, great people, chivalry and no expectation.  I felt alive...although it was clear this would not be a restful weekend as I finally called it a night around 4am. 

But, I was all smiles :)

To be honest I've never appreciated my singleness as much as I do right now...I'm not sure I'm going to be ready to give that up for a while. Hmmm...