Fate?

I went out for drinks the other night with a couple of friends. It was a good night out. I got a bit tipsy, but not so drunk as I couldn’t function (which is always a worry for me when tequila gets invited to the party! 😛 ) Anyway, my friends and I were sitting and chatting and for some reason I happened to look up at the exact same time a guy moving a table about 10 feet away looked up. Our eyes met . . . and recognition hit!

His name is Toby Hargrave, and I haven’t seen him in at least 3 years. Toby and I worked together at The Lone Star Cafe, (when there was one here in Edmonton). The Lone Star, and the people I worked with there, all hold a special place in my heart. I can honestly say that it was the best place I ever worked. Not so much because of the money, or the restaurant itself, but because of the staff. Most were not from here in Edmonton. It was a collection of people from all over Canada that worked in this great place. Few of us had family close by at the time, and in my opinion, we formed a big family of our own. The restaurant closed down a few years ago and everyone’s gone their separate ways. I still keep in touch with a couple of them through the magic of email, but I have to say I feel a certain closeness, almost a kinship, with all the people I worked with at the Lone Star. Even if I don’t see them or talk to them often.

When I was at the LSC was when I first started to consider writing as a career. I can remember sitting at the bar before a shift and writing with pen and paper, and the encouragement from the others to go after what I wanted. So, I found it sorta fateful to run into Toby right now, because doubts about this path I chose have been darting in and out of my mind recently. Seeing him, and talking to him for only a brief 5 minutes, helped remind me of who I was.

Who am I? Normally I’m someone that believes anything is possible if you set your mind to it. Why did seeing Toby remind me of this? Because he handed me a business card, and told me what he’d been up to these past years. He too has been chasing his dream. More than chasing it, he’s working towards it. His dream? To be a professional funny man. I can remember a group of us going to see him at Yuk Yuks one night when he first started out, about the same time I was starting out with the writing. Going to his website and seeing how much he’s accomplished has helped me to realize that I too, have accomplished a bit in the past few years. It’s helped me to remember that lasting success isn’t instantaneous, and if I want this to be a CAREER it will take time to build it. And that’s exactly what I’m doing.

Another weird thing is, I went to Toby’s website and read his past Blog enteries. I saw this Tarot card one, and had to give it a shot even though I’m pretty sure there was one on Quizilla similar to it a short time ago. I got The High Priestess. When I read what it meant…it just reinforced my thoughts.