C'est La Vie

Amazing how one’s life can change in a matter of minutes. One moment you’re living with your boyfriend of 11 yrs and the next moment you’re kicking him out of your apt after reading a 5 page email from his mistress of how he’s done you wrong for the past 7yrs. Where does one go after finding out your relationship has been a scam? Therapy? Nah, that’s too cliché. Jump off a roof? Nah, wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Montreal!!! Montreal, the land of beautiful people, good food, and a wonderful public biking system.

I had a Montreal trip planned for the end of the month with my boyfriend which fell through after I found out he was a douche bag. Luckily my really good friend, KB, lived around the corner from me was planning a solo trip to Montreal that same weekend. I already canceled my reservations but then decided to go with her since I needed to get out which was the best decision I ever made.

I vowed that I was not going to act like the typical woman that just had her heart stomped on. I refused to let this break me down and control my life. I’m not going to lie though, the first couple weeks were brutal. Couldn’t eat, sleep, or stay in our apt for more than 15minutes unless it was time to go to bed. Thanks to some good ol’ sleeping pills and a little Mary Jane, I slept like a baby at night. I also refused to talk about him during the trip, didn’t want to ruin my time or KB’s time by being a Debby Downer. Having this trip to look forward to was helping and since I was now single I needed to buy some new single clothing to put myself back in the game. However, this was going to be a completely different game than it was 11 yrs ago when I was only 19. Back then, I could care less about marriage, having kids, money and stability. I was also very uncomfortable under my own skin, a virgin, naive, and living with my parents. Now I’m in my thirties…nuff said. Long story short…I was scared as fuck! Did I show it…hell no!!

Day one we get to our room at Le Nouvel and it wreaked of cigarettes. We ran to the drug store for Fabreze and it still smelled after using the entire bottle. Little fact about people from Montreal, they love to smoke. We head over for some sandwiches at a local spot, sit outside, ordered a delicious merguez sandwich with a mixed green salad and chased it with some mojitos. I sat back for a second to enjoy the ambiance which made me smile. Looking around at the cobblestone roads, the French wording on all the storefronts, the affectionate couples and the children sounding like Jerry’s French cousin from “Tom and Jerry”, all makes me happy. We walked around the rest of the day before heading back to our hotel to get ready for the night. That night we head over to La Sala Rosa to check out this band “Stereo Total”. I was pretty exhausted from the long active day we just had so I was not planning to stay for too long. After "Stereo Total" finished their set, we were going to leave after one more drink. As we leaned against the bar watching the next band perform, I couldn’t help but notice this really attractive man standing next to me. I have no idea how to approach the situation so I figure if I just make eye contact and keep glancing over from time to time, he may just notice that I’m checking him out and start talking to me. Unfortunately, he kept doing the same but wouldn’t talk to me. It wasn’t until KB got frustrated and said “oh come on! This is getting ridiculous! If you don’t talk to him then I will!!” She went over to him and his friend and said “will you be our translator since we don’t speak French?” Lucky for me he spoke English very well, gave me a big smile and introduced himself as Jonathan. We must have spoke for about an hour before he invited us to his friend’s house party. We leave the bar with a group of his friends who do not speak English very well but try their best to keep us in their conversations. We playfully try to learn some useful words in French while we walk over to the party. As we walk, Jonathan proceeds to hold my hand and looks at me as if we’ve been with one another for years. We spoke Spanish to each other since he lived in Argentina for some time, which is a nice surprise since that is where my family is from. I’m on cloud 9, I suddenly feel something that I haven’t felt in years, pure happiness. For a moment the question pops into my head “how can I have felt so down a few days ago and feel so up right now?” Then I realize that it really doesn’t matter at this moment and to just enjoy this feeling before it fades.

We get to the party and Jonathan leads me to the roof top of this house which is an amazing view. We find a nice quiet spot away from everywhere and sit as close together as possible without having to sit on his lap since it was a bit chilly. I ask him why it took him so long to talk to me and he then tells me how he is going through a break up and looking for a new place to live. I stop myself from pushing him hard as if I’m Elaine from Seinfeld and yelling “GET OUT, me too!!!” After bonding over our break ups, he leaned over, looked into my eyes and I then felt his warm full lips press on to mine. My entire body suddenly felt warm. I haven’t kissed another guy other than my ex in quite some time and if felt so damn good. He was so gentle but so passionate at the same time. I didn’t want to stop kissing him and I wanted him to take me then and there. After having our little make-out session, we go back down stairs to find KB. She had probably met the entire party while I was gone since she was surrounded by new friends bringing her over drinks and some even telling her their problems. The rest of the night was pure euphoria with this very attractive man that has a very sexy accent swooning all over me. By the end of the night he asks me where I was sleeping. I really wanted him to come with me but I was sharing a room with KB and not to mention I was a rookie when it came to meeting men and sleeping with them the first night. We exchanged numbers and made plans for the following day before KB and I went back to our hotel.

The next day we met up with Jonathan and his friends at a local park and watched them play softball. The vibe seemed to change that next day between us so we didn’t stay too long. The rest of the time we texted back and forth but we didn’t meet again. I didn’t let it ruin my time and pretty much took it for what it was…an amazing night. If it wasn’t for our brief interaction, I would have continued to be scared as fuck to be single again. Meeting him made me realize that it’s not so hard being single and meeting men again. It made me feel wanted and that’s all I was looking for at that time. I do keep in touch with Jonathan and hoped to some day meet again. The rest of the time we spent it enjoying the food, the views, the biking, and the nightlife. The trip was very therapeutic and it led to the planning of many other amazing trips.