"Did you notice that happiness happens less the more often you stop to find where it's been hiding"

I've really enjoyed my visit to St. John's. I don't want to leave actually. I've hung out with new friends, I've visited old ones. I've had more of a social life in a week than I have for months on end.

I didn't realise until I arrived that I hadn't expected to come back. It was odd. To see the airport, the road out of the airport, the university, downtown... A friend picked me up at the airport and said, "I didn't think you'd ever come back" and I could only respond, "well, neither did I." Though it seemed stupid, because I really do love it here. I love the city, the row houses, the water. Not in that condescending way that I'm sure some people I know from back home would love St. John's, I love St. John's because it makes me feel free. It makes me want to keep going, like there really isn't a destination just a fantastic never-ending journey.

I feel more at home here than in Ottawa, which is odd. Maybe I've always felt more at home in the unfamiliar, or maybe I just like the wind, the colourful houses, the way the hills roll around the city, and the feeling like I'm at the edge of something wonderful.

I was here for three days before I actually walked downtown. Three days and suddenly standing on Military Road I saw the Narrows and the water beyond over the rooftops of downtown, and I thought "Let's just keep walking...let's never stop." I get that way when I'm driving sometimes. If I were to die in a car crash, I hope I'd be on my way to somewhere for that very reason. When I'm going somewhere, I'm really going anywhere, because it always takes a fair amount of will power to stop where people expect me to.

On that note, I don't know how I'm going to will myself home. The empty wallet will help a little, but not a lot. I don't think I'm closer to any life epiphanies, but at least I've been reminded how absolutely beautiful the world is, how fantastic my friends are, and, most importantly, the kind of happiness that is possible.

* * *
scottie, there comes a day, where we begin again,
we begin again, we begin again,
and you'll recognize it then, you'll recognize it then,
you can feel it in your face, you can feel it in your step,
you can feel it in your veins, you'll recognize the end
and then begin again.
-Lions for Scottie, Hey Rosetta!

(Title of the entry comes from a Hey Rosetta! song called "The Simplest Thing")