connoisseur of life series #1

I am so sorry to everyone for not keeping up with my blog. I got a little bit sick of myself and sick of drawing my stupid giant head on that inaccurately tiny body...I might return to that someday, but for now, I hope this new thread that I'm unspooling still captures everyone's interest (all 3 of you).

Here's a story to introduce the actual introduction:

Two weeks ago, I was touring the Okanagan wineries with a few friends. My limit was three wineries in one day (I can only nod my head and say "ah, interesting" while having no clue as to what is actually interesting about the wines, for so long).

At the end of a long, tiring day, we stopped into Mission Hill for the heritage tour. The guide was an enthusiastic and thorough man, who told us that he had a colleague who studied picking out flavours and aromas from wines by practicing everyday - smelling a new scent throughout the day in order to familiarize and identify it in wines.

My eyes almost popped out of my head, I was so excited at the idea that I wasn't a hopeless case...that everything could be honed and practiced. And I don't have to become a poverty stricken lush to get there.

Actual introduction:

Quite often I find myself a passerby to a very intense moment in somebody's life, in a public space. Sometimes these little scenarios stay with me for a very long time...often for months, sometimes for years. I never know what to do with them, except to wonder about it. So I want to share these little excerpts (hopefully not in a depressing World Vision advertisement way) to offer little excerpts of life, or little mysteries for us to try to figure out together.

#1

The other day, I went to the library, and just outside the door, this woman was sitting on a low bench, crying loudly and telling a stranger who was unlocking his bike nearby:

"I was supposed to meet my ex here...but he didn't show up!"

I went inside, browsed a bit and then grabbed two trashy magazines. When I came out, I found her still gasping for breath between these chasmal heaving sobs.