Suspiciously Sweet to Savagely Sour – Trust your intuition

Some things are too good to be true and that was certainly the case with “Victoria”. We matched when he was visiting my area when in reality he lived about 100 kilometres away. The distance was not an issue because we had a flexible means of getting back and forth so I pursued the match. We met and he was perfect. Incredibly sweet, handsome, tall, charming, funny, great job, and he had just bought a new house. He even asked me to help decorate and pick things out for his new house. He was so perfect but something felt off. I had lengthy conversations with my friends and could not for the life of me figure out what my intuition was trying to tell me. “Victoria” and I spent a lot of time together and when he asked me to come on a trip to Utah with him last minute, I was not entirely surprised. He was planning this trip to do alone which he complained about many times. Hiking alone, the spa alone etc. so I asked work if I could get the time off and sadly it was declined so last minute. As a compromise I headed over to his place before he left and spent the night.

Colourful and deliciously sour flight from Ile Sauvage Brewing Co. – Photo credit E Gismondi

On the day he was set to return he showed up as a suggested friend on social media. His picture was a cute photo of him and a girl sitting at a table together, weird because he only has brothers. I clicked on the picture and the caption read “She said yes! We could not be happier! #engaged #utah” with her tagged. What?! What would he have done if I could have gone on the trip? Now what do I do?

I then asked every female I know if I should tell this woman or not. I was the long term girlfriend and had the guy start something with someone else and I would have liked to know so I wanted to tell her. The consensus was to message her. I crafted a message something along the lines of I did not know he had a girlfriend and I had the texts if there was any question we were talking about the same guy. The message showed as read and then both she and him blocked me. I understand they got married and moved into the house they bought together that I picked towels for.

We are given such a wonderful gift in our intuition and I know I should trust mine more often. There are times when something does not feel right and usually it ends up that way. This would have hurt so much more had I not listened even a little bit to that gut feeling that something was not right. A year or so later one of my friends suggested a trip to the city he lived in to have a positive memory attached to the city. We toured a number of breweries and one was Ile Sauvage Brewing Company. They specialize in unique sour beers and the vibe at the brewery is very cool. A perfect replacement memory. My favourites were their Tropique Sour and one that was on their rotation called Au Jardin (made with beets and lemon).The trip was planned out with the help from BC Ale Trail

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Haunted Holiday Season – Ghosts of Boys Past

A few years ago, I matched with “Yale” on a dating app and we had good conversation for almost a month online but we hadn’t met yet. He disappeared shortly after in the Fall and I shrugged it off. Fast forward to December and a group of friends and I are out at a club downtown, dancing and drinking and I see Yale from across the room. Remember I had not met him in person and was going purely on the photos passed back and forth while chatting. I don’t have an issue with approaching a guy in regular circumstances and certainly not while drinking, so I walked up to him and asked if his name was Yale and if he remembers talking to me and if he wanted to dance. He said yes, we made out on the dance floor and exchanged numbers. We went on a few dates, had Boxing Day dinner together, and he invited my friend and I out for New Years Eve.

On the 31st we dressed up and hit a local brewery with him and his friends for early festivities. Yale’s friend mentioned a house party and told us to head to the liquor store and grab some drinks and Yale would text us the address of the house party. Off we went, tipsy, to the liquor store and bought some supplies and I texted asking for the address, no response. We headed back to my place to wait for the address, still nothing and I knew something was amiss. He was not going to text. We were not welcome at the party. Eventually he messaged and said that his ex was at the party and he didn’t feel comfortable with a potential new girl there too. My friend and I blasted some Miranda Lambert and danced around my apartment until midnight. Not quite the night we had planned but a good one none the less.

Take me back to this summery flight from Lighthouse Brewing Company

This holiday season I had the joy of explaining the “u up” text disguised as “Merry Christmas” to my mom. She was perplexed by the notion that a guy would come back after months of silence just to send a “Merry Christmas” text but it certainly happens. I had the distinct privilege of receiving five such texts this year. There is always the debate over if they deserve a reply or not, and what to say.

I made a mistake early in the season by “loving” all of the posts on my wall wishing me well and then it happened. The dreaded post that makes you want to throw your phone across the room. That one person that still stings. What to do?! “Love” it like everyone else? Ignore it or “like” it instead (but then it sticks out)? Delete it and prompt a message along the lines of “hey you deleted my post!”? I opted to put that little heart so he would be the same as everyone else.

Both Yale and the ghosts this year remind me that there is a reason these people are in the past. There is a reason they did not work out the first time around. In 2021 my goal will be to avoid those ghosts and leave them where they are.

Lighthouse Brewing Company Ghost Ship Hazy IPA

A truly delicious beer to enjoy while reflecting on these ghosts is another hazy IPA from Lighthouse Brewing with a perfect name, Ghost Ship Hazy IPA. Prior to trying Ghost Ship, I was strongly adverse to IPA’s and would stick with wheat focused beers. A friend suggested I try this while we were doing the BC Ale Trail Victoria Trail and I was instantly a fan. It’s balanced and has the required hoppy bitterness of an IPA but without the aftertaste. The haunting label will keep my ship right and avoid replying to those “u up” texts in the future.

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