City of Brotherly Love

  You'll never realize how submersed you've become in your own citys lifestyle, until you move to another. Granted, I've only been in Toronto for 7 days, but the amount of New Yorker that I am constantly recognizing in myself, while walking these Canadian streets is ridiculous. Seriously. Ridiculous is the best word to describe it. Nobody is in a hurry, here. Nobody needs to stand a quarter of the way into the street to be the first person to rush across the intersection the moment the light turns yellow. People look at each other as they pass each other in the street and smile. WhAT!?! Personal connections? People say excuse me, and hold the door for others. Can't find the local market? Stop into the closest liquor store and 3 of the cashiers will enthusiastically give you 7 different options and directions to take to find the most suitable grocery store for your needs. The most impressive showing of Canadian love? Going out for birthday drinks last night. A group of 11 of us. Our waitress greeted us cheerfully (the restaurant was packed), brought us all water immediately, offered without any of us asking, to do individual checks, moved us immediately into an inside table when requested, due to the weather, and then took multiple pictures of us....all with a genuine smile on her face and consistent patience. My conclusion? I'm a horrible waitress? Yes, but no...Toronto is awesome. Just awesome. And yes, while I do love New York....I do not miss the pace, the tunnel vision, the agendas...not one bit. Ya'll should come pay me a visit. This city is beautiful. (: