Purdy Nice

 

It was 44 years ago today. I had just flown into Vancouver from Ocean Falls and was suffering from culture shock, and fatigue. (The city was overwhelming after having lived in the bush for the last 1 1/2 years.)

There I was, standing in the front of a church, wearing a brand new suit and shoes that were too tight. The day was a blur, and now there was a man in a white collar asking me a question. In my sensory overloaded state, I was sure he was asking me ,"Do you like chocolate?"

 I said, "I do!" 

And thus began a life that has been like a box of chocolates with apologies to Forrest Gump.

We pulled out the chocolates, at first, without considering what was inside. Sometimes it was wonderful, sometime it was some of the awful ginger gummy stuff. Sometimes it was nuts that were hard to chew, and sometimes toffee that pulled your fillings out.

But as the years went by, we discovered that through experience, and by following the legend that was provided with the box of chocolates, that we could pick and choose just the ones we liked.

We also learned to know which was each other's favourites and what brand of chocolates our friends were having good experiences with. We observed and remembered our parents who ate chocolates together for all their lives and we were determined to have the same kind of staying power.

Now, 44 years later, there are still a lot of chocolates in the box and we are looking forward to sampling them together, and enjoying them, sharing them and not hogging them.

Neither of us could even imagine eating chocolates with anybody else.