An Exciting Afternoon with a New Rasta Friend

My last day working at my 5-day slave job was last this Friday. Feelings of excitement, accomplishment, and some nervousness cycled my emotions on that last day. I was eager to get out of that place since I handed in my letter of resignation. But as we know, you start to see the goodness in everything just when you're leaving it... Life plays that trick on our mind. At the end of September, I will be leaving Montreal and finding life in Mexico.

In preparation for the move, my colleagues(who are going to be traveling with me) and I arranged a "Garage/Yard Sale" in hopes of getting rid of some extra things we had laying around our apartments, and to rack in some extra savings for the project. It was being hosted at my partners' place, so I had to transport a bunch of my materials across the city to them. They don't live that far, but after a 9-day workweek, I expectedly became lazy by the thought of hauling all my shit to their place and slept in later instead. The Yard Sale ended up actually starting around 2pm.

From my understanding, it was the regular "shit-show garage sale"... 90 percent of the people who walked by barely acknowledged our display, which was fine. My partners and I cracked some brews that afternoon and relaxed in the sight that we don't have a work schedule to fulfill fo the time being. It felt so good to be free and not be on some illogical time restraint. I could just kick my feet back and not worry about the stress of having to get up for work tomorrow... even though I'm still dealing with a little bit of stress from moving and whatnot.

After about two hours of sipping on some beers on the steps, making a single sale on a book for 25 cents, an interesting character showed up to the stand. He goes by Papa Stretch, and he's on of the most eccentric and entertaining 60-year olds I've met in my life. He told us vague stories of his past mentioning he was born in Jamaica and pursued the Rasta lifestyle. Oh, and boy did he love the weed, as you wold expect. Not long after him introducing himself he impulsively decided to make an offer on a keyboard we had for sale. Personally, I questioned to myself the legitimacy of his offer, but he seemed persistent in the fact. He promised that he would come back the next day and buy it for $100, which we were grateful. Shortly after, he mentioned selling marijuana, and that got me a little enthusiastic, so I inquired further. We made a deal, and he said he would be back soon after going to make the run for us. The stragest thing, though, is that he decided to leave his whole wallet with us with all of its contents inside. He definitely had no real understanding as to why he even left such a vital part of him with some strangers he only just met. But he went off on his way to retrieve the package we ordered!

Soon that afternoon, although not soon enough(he got lost on the journey back to my partners' apartment), he found his way back to the yard sale. And he did not dissappoint, he pulled through with some real good quality green if I say so myself. I offered him a beer and he sat his ass down on the steps with us and made himself family.

It was a delightful time with Papa Stretch, hearing his eccentric comments, his positivity was reassuring. The rest of the evening was a refreshing time with a new friend(whether or not we see him again in our lifetimes). It was almost addictive to listen to him speak... his frequent mentions of "God is my Father" and saying the phrase "One Love". He put a smile on our faces with almost every word that came out of mouth. It goes to show, even though we had a majorly unsuccessful sale, it's not about the material we obtain... it's about the quality experiences we have along the way pursuing our objectives.

Papa Stretch, I hope I can see you again someday. I'm happy to know you're blessing the world with your love and good vibes. We need more souls like that airing the streets. The lack of that welcomeness is something that's pushed me out of the big city and searching for a simpler life closer to nature. I savour these little moments of fate.