long time, no write....

I woke up crazy early this morning. I have no idea why. Six o'clock rolled around and my eyes just popped open. I figured I would get up and sort of start my day....

This is my third summer living in Montreal and for the first time since I moved, I feel at home. I went to visit some friends in Toronto for a few days and I had a great time but the minute I got back to Montreal I felt my whole body relax.I still can't quite figure out what it is about Montreal that I like so much. It's not without its ups and downs. But it feels good to be here right now.

Small thing: I've been smiling at strangers lately. Not really in a crazy way or anything, but I was talking with a friend about Australia and how much we enjoyed how friendly they were there, even to strangers. In their culture it's not weird to acknowledge strangers on the street and say hello. There's so many people on this planet, you're bound to make eye contact with someone right?

So I haven't started saying "hello" or "good morning" to strangers yet but I have been playing this little game of smiling at people when I notice them or if we make eye contact. And even though it's a small thing, it's really nice to see people smile back. It's like by smiling at each other we are quietly saying, "Hey man, here we are trying to make the best of this day on Planet Earth. Hope you have a good one."

I've been trying to smile at a stranger at least once a day. It's really not that strange :)