An Angel in Disguise

I met Sean the other day. He was hanging out at the Sugar Cafe bar all alone, and I just happened to sit next to him. He looked like he had just left work, dressed in a green button down and black slacks, drinking an Anchor Steam. The bartender (who is also my roommate) handed me a cocktail from the menu, and Sean and I sat in awkward silence for a few minutes not acknowledging each other's presence.

He looked lonely, and even though my mom taught me not to speak to strangers, sometimes I just can't help it. So I asked him what had brought him to this bar. Turns out he had come there once before, a few years ago on a layover from Australia to his home in Ireland, and he was repeating his tradition again that night.

Without any agenda or expectations - we ended up talking for almost 2 hours. Out of nowhere, he started telling me a story about how he had packed up his life about 6 years ago, and moved to Australia. He explained to me how it was the most exciting thing he'd ever done; he had met so many new people and had so many wonderful and spontaneous experiences, and he didn't regret a thing...and told me that I have to do it.

Funny thing is, with all this free time lately, it has lead me to start thinking radically, radically about what the next months of my life should be like. Every day is different: I go from pondering about a 9-5 job in the city, to living in London or down by the Riviera, to traveling to the Bahamas to bartend my way through tiki huts and clear blue water, or even to spending a year down under throwing shrimp on the barbie with the Aussies.

Before I left the bar that night, I told Sean that I was happy to have met him. And I genuinely was...and still am. He reminded me of the things I've been dying to do, of the things I yearn to do, and of the things I had pushed to the back of my mind because I was stuck in a routine. He reminded me of how much I love to travel and how much I love to experience new things. He reminded me not to be scared and that the first step would be the hardest and most scary, but that it would all be worth it in the end.

So, should I stay or should I go?

~C