Something ripe and something rotten

There was one thing I did really like about Denmark: the Louisiana Modern Art Museum (I try to like older art but always end up loving the contemporary stuff most). There was a big exhibit of works by Sophie Calle, a French artist, that I absolutely loved. One installation was on an address book she found on the street. She got to know the owner, Pierre, strictly through encounters with the people in his address book. 

Another was a series on East Berlin neighbourhoods, photographs of places where something had been removed after unification. She asked local residents to tell her about their memories of the thing that was removed.

The most extensive piece, which made me laugh and also almost brought me to tears (I’m not sure why), revolved around an email from a lover that ended their relationship. Sophie (I would like us to be on a first-name basis) asked 107 women -- painters, writers, analysts, chefs, etc. -- to interpret the letter. A dancer danced about it, another sang, a judge declared it to be a violation of their contract, another analyzed the verb structures, it was fed to a bird.....all in all, fantastic stuff.

speaking of relationships...

In Denmark, Great Success in the Men Department Followed Almost Instantly by Shocking Defeat

I am single and travelling alone; therefore (according to many female friends) I am going to meet someone amazing during my travels and live happily ever after in some exciting, far-off country!

Well, I certainly have met some...unique...men, but none quite as interesting as a man at church in Denmark.

(I hear your seats creaking as you lean forward with interest...)

He was fairly good-looking; articulate; seemed intelligent; and spoke English fluently -- in fact, he was from BC also. AND he asked me what I was doing that afternoon. AND offered to take me on a tour of the city! (I’d already toured it quite extensively but, I'm such a nice person, how could I say no?)

I wafted home from church exalting that someone had finally made a move and without wasting any time. Probably he was attracted to my intelligence, I thought, or my very good looks, or my spiritual presence, or my impressive professional background. 

I tried not to wonder if he could be THE ONE (but I have to admit I did imagine telling him I wouldn’t be able to live in Denmark)...

So maybe I jumped the gun a bit, but at least there was some indication he was interested. At least, that's what I thought until we met later, not for a tour after all but for a party with 20 of his closest friends. Who of course, naturally, asked how his FIANCE was doing.

Who knew that the stages of grief could be experienced at lightning speed?! Shock and denial; pain and guilt (ooohhh, the pain);  anger and bargaining; depression, reflection and loneliness; the upward turn; reconstruction; and acceptance and hope...I felt them all in the course of an afternoon.