The Story of When Colin Met Millie in the Real World
The day after Cherry broke up with me, I awoke to find a threat of physical violence against myself as her younger brother’s facebook status. I was already depressed, and this public declaration of what was already a very intense private pain made it quite a bit worse. I spent most of the morning being dejected and staring off into nothingness.
During the breakup, I had told Cherry that I wouldn’t contact Millie, and therefore hadn’t, but now that we were broken up I felt free to contact her on IM, which led to a phone call, which led to me buying plane tickets to go see her in Portland, OR.
The trip from my work to Portland was long and difficult. Every part of me except for my gut told me not to do this. I was scared that things would be different between us, we would feel estranged and I would be somewhat stranded in Portland. I was worried that Cherry would somehow try to contact me while I was gone, and I would be forced to tell her where I was. I was worried that following through on such an impetuous act was so unlike me that it would cause me to lose my grip on reality and end up as a crazy homeless person on the streets.
But as soon as I arrived and saw her face, I began to calm down. And holding her helped even more. And staring. And kissing. And then I felt better. And then I had a completely amazing weekend.
We started the weekend on the Midnight Mystery Ride, riding a tandem together that she had borrowed from a friend. We proceeded to meet so many of her awesome friends: Simon, Clown-Porn Boy, Bhajan, Mars, Kerri, Petra, Lidiana, Janessa, Rob, Zach. Millie is surrounded by amazing people, and yet still has a place for me. We also spent a good deal of time just riding around Portland, seeing different parts of the city: vegan everything, drinking on a stoop, grilled cheese on a bus, food carts, The Tube, mimosas on a swing, Alice’s hookah garden, beer on the same swing, a yard sale made of magic, a park in the center of an intersection, a fair, the world’s most perfect park filled with the world’s most serious foam rubber swordsmen. And we did everything and nothing, we stared the shit out of each other, and then Millie gave me a craphawk and it was awesome.
Portland is a magical city, and I had an extraordinary weekend there. Can’t wait to go back.
