MadMup.com

There are so many things you worry about before traveling – Did you pack enough clothes? Have you made all the right reservations? Do you have all the contact information for the people you’re meeting? – that you never think you’re going to fall in love.

It happened so fast. I never saw it coming and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I wasn’t looking for it, I didn’t need it, and now I’m stuck.

See, it will never work. Nothing I can do will make it work. Long distance relationships are hard in most cases, and impossible in this one.

I might as well tell you how it happened, I suppose…

It was Friday afternoon. Mike, Holly, and I had dropped Jamie off to get her nails done and had some time to kill, so we wandered down Main Street in Yarmouth. Holly needed to check with a store that does business with her and do some banking, so Mike and I wandered. As we passed a used games/movies/computers store, the tattooed and lip-pierced girl cleaning the inside window smiled at us. We’d been planning to go in anyway, but as we did, I told her it was because she smiled – that got another smile and a laugh.

We didn’t find any great bargains in the store, so we moved on to the craft store next door where Holly was. Everything in the store was locally made, and there were some neat things, but, again, I didn’t buy anything.

Keep in mind, it’s been raining this whole time. In fact, once I hit Canadian soil, I didn’t see the sun until I was in a plane above the clouds on my way back to Newark. It didn’t rain the whole time, but it was cloudy the whole time and rained about 87.63% of the time. So we were wet and chilly when we decided to go into the Tim Hortons.

Tim Hortons is like a combination Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. They’re about as prolific in Canada as Starbucks are here. They’ve got sandwiches, donuts, coffee – the works. If you’re in Canada, you really must go to one.

I’ll never forget Tim Hortons because that’s where I fell in love.

I walked in with the usual hesitance I walk into new places with – it was a nice place, clean, and well-lit. They had pictures of donuts and coffee and “Timbits” (which turned out to be their name for donut holes. What an odd, cannibalistic name for nice food.). I decided to order a hot chocolate (of course). They don’t take credit/debit cards there, so I had to pony up some actual cash, which caused a minor amount of consternation, since I only had American monies. But I finally worked it out (and got a Toonie in change!) and received my beverage.

And that’s when I fell in love.

I would like to offer some sort of public apology to Starbucks and Barnes & Noble, but I have found something better. I must proclaim to the world that the hot chocolate with whipped cream at Tim Hortons FAR surpasses the hot chocolate with whipped cream at Starbucks. I – I know it’s hard to hear, but I don’t know how else to break it to you. The whipped cream is thick and tasteful and the chocolate is exactly what chocolate should taste like.

I sat there, disbelieving. I tried some more, and sure enough – my heart was gone. I got the chills, the flutters, the shakes – all of it. I was gone. Signed on for life.

But… there’s a problem.

Tim Hortons is pretty much in Canada. While there are a few in The States, they are no nearer to Indiana than Michigan. While I’m willing to work at this relationship, I just won’t be able to any time soon. If I were a braver man I would quit my job and travel and make a public stand… but alas, I am a coward. I will have to love from afar.

I am doomed to unrequitedness.

I agree with Agent K when he responded to the question “Better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all, right?” with “Try it.”

Yeah, try it. Try to have a taste of heaven and then have it ripped from you. It’s no fun at all.

I miss you, Tim Hortons hot chocolate with whipped cream. Please call.