Well I know Leah is dying to hear about the gallery thing, so I’ll tell you about it. Oh, who am I kidding, I’m so into this guy I’m dying to write about it. Be warned, this is a girly message.
I wore a knee-length denim skirt, kind of like this one and a yellow halter top and strappy denim sandles. Hair half-up.
M and I arrived at the Fran Hill Gallery at Queen and Sherbourne around 6:20 pm. saxman wasn’t there yet when we arrived, so we went around the gallery and took a look at all of the paintings.
I didn’t see him come in, but M pointed him out to me after he’d arrived. He seemed genuinely happy and a little surprised to see me there. We all chatted in a group for awhile but we also had a chance to talk, just the two of us. We talked about getting back to ship life, what his day will be like today. They called him for the contract Wednesday and wanted him to arrive Thursday. How insane is that? So they settled on Friday. He was taking a 6 am flight out of Toronto and boarding later today, and then playing a show tonight with people he’s never met, playing material he’s never seen… I don’t envy him this day, but truthfully I felt a little jealous of him, getting to do a short contract through the Carribbean (ports include Key West, Aruba, Cozumel, among others) on the Celebrity Millenium. He thinks of it as a vacation.
I asked him if he would extend his contract if they offered it, but he said no, that he has obligations here in Toronto in September and that he’ll be back. Yes, I’m rambling here, but Leah will understand.
Oh, this is the funny part: while we were chatting a man came into the gallery wearing a Disney Cruise Line t-shirt. saxman got that scared look in his eyes, much like the look we had when we would see people wearing things like the Mickey and Minnie bride and groom hats? You two know what I mean. (Snicker.) He said, “The memories are coming back…” It was just a weird coincidence, so out of place in a room full of yuppy-ish, hip artist-types, this 50-year-old man with DCL on the front of his t-shirt and mock character autographs on the back.
I worked the conversation into Internet access on the ship, and it seems they are quite connected at Celebrity. I was working up to asking him for his e-mail address, but somehow the conversation changed, and I didn’t ask. M saved the day, though, when saxman said he had to leave, and asked him for it. He exchanged with S and M, and of course I watched him write it out and memorized. He said bye to everyone, that he’d see us all in two months. I said something dumb about having fun, and not getting into too much trouble, and then this is the best part: he looked right into my eyes and said, “I’ll see you in September.”
So instead of feeling like crap about meeting someone wonderful at a bad time, today I feel very encouraged and lucky to have bumped into him at all. Leah is totally right, I will be e-mailing him, and hopefully we will get to know one another electronically first. The summer is going to fly by.
