The Amazements Surround

Blog No. 106

This last weekend I went on a short (but full) trip for my friend’s bachelor party. It was pretty important that I be there. Not only because he is such an amazing friend who I consider to be family, but also, I have the honour of being the best man. (The best man is pretty integral to the bachelor party). I had some ideas for the event and had discussed them with the groom to be, and luckily the group gentlemen going, was made up of good friends with good heads on their shoulders, so we opened the floor to them for planning. With much debate and decisions being made, the event was scheduled. We ended up having a busy and fun time that included many bars, plenty of friends, lots of drinking, the Toronto Raptors, Porter Airline, Montreal, and a Prius. The theme (not that we started with a theme in mind) was Adventure!

As with any planned event, not everything worked out they way we expected. We had two days and a trip in the middle, so we said we were going to take it easy, but we didn’t. The entire event was saddled with our fatigue and little regrets, but it was what we knew would happen. In Montreal (on the second day) we had an emergency that cut things short. A member of our party had to go to the hospital. It wasn’t for any tomfoolery or irresponsibility. There was a genuine medical crisis that stemmed from a preexisting condition. Even thought that night was cut short, we still managed to have fun before we had to come back home. The time in the hotel before the incident was a blast, and after we got our friend back out, we had a good meal and some brief roundness before heading back to the airport.

What standout for me was all the little things that facilitated the two-day, two-city, party. I had to come in to Toronto on a train, then took a cab to my friend’s place. We took another cab to dinner and the game, then went from bar to bar before crashing at a hotel. That alone is amazing. A train took me almost 400km just so I could see some people. I was in several cars that picked me up wherever I was and took me quickly to my destination. There were huge stadiums filled with people, music, and lights, all so we could watch tall guys play a game. Then we got to go to several places that served us drinks and gave us options for entertainment (talking, dancing, playing games). It was spectacular. To top it off, we stayed at a building with hundreds of other people, got beds, showers, and a wake-up call. Fantastic.

The next morning, we got together, took another cab to a ferry that brought us to a plane that flew us to another city where a friend picked us up in his Prius and drove us to another hotel. When the unfortunate medical mishap reared its head, we got a cab to a hospital where nurses and doctors tended to our ailing friend. Dozens of machines, that I had very little knowledge about, measures his condition and in the morning (thankfully) he was well and ready to go. As a bonus, living in Canada, his health card from another province covered the bill. Another plane, ferry, cab, and train ended our adventure, but the amount of things we were able to do in three days is astounding. I’m finally getting over the event (physically) but I’m going to have the memories for a long time – all because of those super cool things in our world that I often forget are as amazing as they are.