Love is in the Air

It is spring in Toronto! Yes, this is NEWS! Canadians are always surprised and grateful to see spring arrive and this year we are more jubilant than ever as we have had no snow or bone-chilling cold since … well, since … the BEGINNING of February! The crab apple trees are celebrating by bursting forth in extra vibrant bright pink blossoms; the birds are singing more brightly and loudly than ever; even the earthworms seem more vigorous and extroverted than usual. I joined in the general euphoria by falling in love.

A couple of weeks ago, I was walking through Yorkville when I first encountered the object of my newly minted adoration. Since then I have shamelessly sought out or created reasons for sauntering down Yorkville Avenue; one day I managed to rationalize spending 55 minutes there. When I think of it, I blush at how easily I overcame all my scruples in order to facilitate a second rendez-vous.

No matter what I do or where I go lately, I find myself face-to-face with young love. Sitting at my computer (an ‘activity’ I engage in about 8 hours a day) I gaze directly into a lovingly constructed nest, delicately balance between the down pipe and the brick wall and carefully nestled under the protective eaves of my neighbour’s house. Mum and Dad Robin spell each other off several times an hour and on each occasion, they make little birdy eye contact with one another and nod responsibly to confirm that their progeny have been and will continue to be in good hands (or should I say wings?). I feel the electricity, pride and love pass between them as I observe, jealously, from my voyeuristic keyboard.

In the subway, on my way to elicit encounter number two, I was riveted by a young married couple, oblivious to the crowded subway, who stared long and hard into each other’s eyes obviously replaying blissful private moments that elevated them both above their drab, mundane reality: he, very ordinary looking developing a slight paunch beneath his pasty face and nerdy clothes; she, hanging tenaciously onto the perkiness that had obviously attracted him and that would serve her well until the birth of their first child after which she would plunge immediately and irrevocably into dowdiness. But last week, on their way to work, thigh to thigh on the plastic TTC banquette, they sat cocooned in the love emanating from each other’s eyes.

Still reeling with vicarious giddiness, I descended from my train, ran up the grimy subway stairs to the morning sunlight and slipped clandestinely into Pusateri’s where I ordered a decaf cappuccino accompanied by my latest 'péché mignon', a crusty 'pain au chocolat' filled with decadent mounds of almond paste. As I savoured every bite, I hoped that all those around me would stare in covetous awe at my secret spring affair.