sometimes, even in very large cities, good people’s dreams can come true.  they may take time, cause hardships, and require sacrifices, but they’re probably worthwhile and get you something that your heart truly desires and that makes your life worthwhile.

this long weekend, i tried to follow up on some of the dreams that friends of mine from the last time i was living in toronto had and see how things had worked out over the last five years.  i figured that since i’ve put my own dreams on the shelf (so that i might  find them again and dust them off when i’m ready?), i could vicariously thrill in the feeling of what it was like for others to be successful.

the first stop was with my most obvious choice.  tom was a friend of mine from work many years ago – from the very start of my career in information technology in fact.  starting out fresh from my biochemistry degree and shattered dream of medical school, tom was a senior manager from the planet of superior IT professionals, toronto, and represented the very pinnacle of achievement in my spanking new career path.  visiting the outer reaches of his empire, he instantly understood the dilemma of a web designer being forced to work on woefully inferior pc technology and immediately recommended that i requisition a proper macintosh (which of course, i never got, but it was the thought that counted).  in that simple and decisive assessment, tom had gained my eternal loyalty and admiration.

tom was beset with challenges within our mid-sized company – corporate politics, intractable subordinates, market downturns, and the inherent difficulties of having the majority of the revenue-generating operations out east, while the top-level management was headquartered out of reach (and out of touch) out west.  in the end, tom left to start his own software company which was around about the time that i moved to toronto and we started to hang out.  he and his entourage were always entertaining, always insightful, and always bandying about the best served conversations i’ve ever had.   after six years, things are now looking pretty great.  he’s got a great life – people who love him, lovely daughters, friends who think he’s rock-star cool, a victorian fixer-upper in one of downtown toronto’s coolest areas, and plans to start the next even more exciting chapter of his entrepreneurial life.  meeting up again at the bar wellington was like sliding into a comfortable and stylish pair of designer jeans – it felt fabulous, raised my esteem immensely, and gave me the feeling of being far more hip than i think i deserve to.

at the other end of my former occupation of toronto, i had made the acquaintance of one of the very best bartenders in toronto.  not only did she make me the most fantastic martinis that i have ever had, she worked at mint (which became tangerine, which has become… nothing) … and when that ceased to be the pre-eminent supercool watering hole of the week, she moved to the next supercool watering hole of the week, habitat (which sadly, has been allowed to persist essentially without modification since that time, and has lost most of its splendour and cachet due to lack of attention).  kealan was pretty much my one-woman farewell party to toronto – we had lunch on the patio of rivoli in the middle of the day and spent six hours (until after the sun had gone down) talking about fashion and literature and film and dreams while her many queen street friends would pass by and say hello.  an authentic toronto citizen having been born and raised on dufferin street, she was one of the very best people that i’d ever met.  she told me about her dream to open a vintage fashion boutique which seemed like an impossible and risky venture to me in a city where fashion and trend seem to change more often than the weather. 

so after some pretty lightweight googling, i found that she had made her dream come true in the form of 69vintage, located at super-artsy queen and dovercourt.  ironically, i must have walked past her boutique five dozen times when i lived in king west because her shop is right next to the starbucks that i would go out of my way to hit on the way to work.  i went by her shop today, but it was pretty early, and she wasn’t in. her shop was eclectic without being junky – carefully selected items organized with deliberation and purpose, sorted by gender, function, colour and size… it was marvellous, busy and very very cool.  there was even a classic superman t-shirt, but it was a ladies style – she is so my kind of couturier.  i’ll go back some day when i have another spare day and have kealan kit me out in a vintage outfit – i wouldn’t have the first clue how to throw something together.

so if this weekend has taught me anything, it’s that i need some kind of a dream - it has been a far too long time since i’ve had one.

- g

adventure cost:
my tab for a guinness and three martinis at bar wellington: $35.00
green juice from the starbucks at queen and dovercourt: $3.50