How I Met My Valentine

I always enjoy hearing stories of how people find love. Most seem to be by chance. My story is no different. We were only 19 at the time. It seems very young by today’s standards. Nick and I had both lived in the University of Alberta residences the first year but we never managed to meet at any of the functions we attended. Nick was too busy studying and I was studying nursing but really enjoying life. I had come from a small town and coming to residence gave me a chance to have fun. Still, there was that desire to meet that special someone. I hadn’t dated much and really wanted to meet that person that I could spend a lifetime with.

By the end of the second year I had become disillusioned by the party life. I wanted to meet someone that was serious about a relationship. With this in mind I noticed a sign on the residence elevator doors. Engineering Dance. The dance would be off site and there would be some “Real Men“ there. I convinced two of my friends on 4^th Kelsey that we should go. The sign said someone would pick us up to take us that night. It was a different time. We didn’t worry about going in a car with a complete stranger. After all, there were 3 of us.

The night came and it was pretty miserable out. It was an April snowstorm near the end of the University semester. We arrived to find out at the door that the entry fee seemed a little high for our budget. It wasn’t like me to be cheeky but I was on a budget. I said to the handsome guy selling tickets “Really?” I told him I wasn’t going to pay that. He responded, “I’ll let you in for half price.” So in we went. The place was rocking to 70’s music. I loved to dance and there were more guys to girls so it wasn’t long before we were all out on the dance floor. Then time came for a break to go to the bathroom with my friend Leslie. Who should I meet coming out of the bathroom but the cute guy from the ticket table! Fate… though I didn’t know it. He asked me to dance. It was Beach Boys! I love Beach Boys and this guy knew how to jive.

The dance ended too soon and the snow continued to fall. Nick asked to give us a ride back to residence but on the way back we had to stop by his apartment to pick up his roommate, Martin, in order to get to the Midnight Madness record sale at the University Mall called HUB. We squeezed into the backseat of his orange Volkswagon Rabbit, appropriately named Bunny, a little concerned about the detour to his apartment. But there were three of us and one of him. He helped push out a car stuck in the mud in the parking lot. Hmmmm… Impressive and kind, I thought. We returned to his basement suite and he changed his blue jeans as they had gotten dirty pushing the vehicle out, into grey, plaid, fortrel pants. Hmmm… maybe the guy could use a little help with fashion. Plaids were definitely out.

Nick’s roommate Martin joined us and to our relief we were off to residence with little delay just like Nick said. Nick pulled up in front of Lister Hall to drop us off. I was ready for a quick exit, but Nick stopped me. “Don’t I get a kiss?” he said. Hmmmm… this was pretty forward for a first meeting those days. I gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Then he added, “but you didn’t give me your phone number!” I quickly rattled it off and thanked him for the ride home. In those days there were no cell phones to record it. Probably the last I see of him I thought. He was kind of fun though.

The next day I get a phone call. It was Nick asking me to go to a movie with him the next weekend. As it was year-end party that night I told him I wouldn’t be able to go. Nick sounded disappointed. It probably sounded like a brush off and that would be that. I was good at that. I went next door to talk to my friend Leslie who had been with me that night. “Nick phoned and asked me for a date and I said I couldn’t go because of the year end party.” “ I can’t believe he remembered my phone number!” I said. Leslie looked at me and said in a firm tone. “You get back on that phone and tell Nick you will go to a late movie after the year end party. He’s a great guy and you need to go.” There was no caller I.D. in those days. I replied, “But I don’t know his last name or his phone number” I said. Leslie remembered his roommate Martin was in residence on 7^th Henday last year. She said, “Let’s check in the yearbook as he probably was on the same floor and you can get his last name from there.” VOILA! Nick’s last name was listed. “Now what?” I said. Leslie should have been a private investigator. “Let’s look in the University directory and see if his name is in there.” VOILA! There it was. So the shy farm girl I was in 1977 phoned the persistent engineer with the good memory and the rest is history.

Nick to this day insists he noticed me as soon as I walked in the room and knew that I was the one. I have to say I didn’t believe it for a while but in the end I fell in love with this amazing man whom life would not be the same without. He is the father of our children and an all round amazing human being. He makes me laugh, sometimes he makes me angry, but deep down I know that he was meant to be on this special journey in life with me. What happened next?… Stay tuned for the next blog entry and listen to the song “ Here for the Ride”.