How My Grandparents Met Part 1

Is it just me or do our grandparents always have the sweetest stories of how they met? I definitely think my grandparents have an adorable story, the kind that inspires us, and makes us sigh, wondering "when will I meet my own prince charming and live happily ever after?"

(please note: this is what I've been told and what I remember, so some of the details may be a bit blurry.)

Lucien was a teacher, and a good one at that. He was respected and his students loved him... unless a student stepped out of line. Which is exactly what Gérald did. Though the details aren't important, he landed himself in detention. They lived in a very small town, which meant everyone knew each other, or almost. When Gérald got home that night, he told his parents about the detention his teacher had given him. His sister Lucille was very angry over this; her brother had received detention unjustly!
She did what any big sister would do and marched over to the school to give this Lucien a piece of her mind. When she finally saw him, she forgot everything she was supposed to tell him, all her anger vanished. She could barely speak! Her brother's detention forgotten, she let this charming teacher sweep her off her feet and they talked and talked.
Eventually, she introduced him to her family, and as you can imagine, her brother Gérald was not very happy....
The rest, as they say, is history.

My sister and I with our grandparents, 1996

They married in 1953, Lucien eventually become principal of a school in a neighbouring town and had 4 children and 9 grandchildren, before moving to Winnipeg and started hosting an annual New Year's brunch. They were married for 58 years, before Lucille passed away in 2011. On top of Lucien's sense of humour and Lucille's feistiness, they are both incredibly kind people, and I can only hope to have as great a life as theirs.

My grandma Lucille's soup, by the way, is still to this day, the best soup I have ever tasted.

The World of Dating

I've been dating since I was 14. I definitely just shuddered at the thought of that, so don't worry if you did too. Fourteen is young, maybe too young. That also means that at the age of 21, I've been in the dating game for about 7 years. It may not be a lot compared to people in their thirties, but to me, it feels like so much longer than that. I have definitely learned a few things in those seven years.

The world of dating isn't what it used to be, anyone can see that. Nowadays, no one really "dates" or are "in a relationship." People are "friends with benefits" or "seeing each other" or even doing the "Netflix and chill" because it's easier; there's an escape route clearly marked. If you don't label it, you technically don't have a commitment, and therefore could leave anytime you want. More and more people just want flings and one-night-stands. We want to be the best in our career field, we want to travel, we want to experiment, start a band, etc. Most of the time, that means being to busy or not wanting to settle down. I don't know many people in their early twenties who are ready to get married and have kids, even if that's what we all dream and talk about.

The thing is, with the Internet, the world has gotten a hell of a lot smaller. You can meet people around the world instantly, you can even find people who are nearby with the click of a button (or a touch of a screen). The only place that doesn't seem to have caught up with this technology is Hollywood. Hollywood keeps on showing us that Prince Charming is just around the corner, not on the other side of a screen. It's still teaching us that the perfect guy is out there, and of course, that's something we should always hope for.

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Nowadays, though, there are a lot of "the One"s. I'm sure I could find a "the One" in every country. The problem is that my generation and even the one of my parents' believe that everything is temporary and disposable. "The button on my shirt fell off... better throw it in the garbage!" is the same as "He didn't throw out the trash one too many times and I just decided that I couldn't live with him anymore!"

We have this idea that nothing lasts, so of course no one wants to commit. We see our friends get cheated on, lied to, heart-broken or have been there ourselves, so why would we go through that again? Why commit to someone when you know that there's a solid 90% it won't last, even if you do end up getting married? And everyone knows divorces are messy, so why bother?

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I've been on tons of first dates. Most of them generated by trying online dating (never again....), but I could tell that we are all so jaded. Guys think that girls are always playing games and have an agenda to watch them fail, that every word out of our mouth is some sort of ploy to start a fight, that in the end, we are all psycho bitches that need big romantic gestures like in The Notebook. Girls think that guys only compliment them to get in their pants, that if they buy us a drink, we have to put out, that they will tell us anything just so they can get laid, that they are never going to even try to understand, that they only care about cars and football and we're only good for cooking and looking pretty.

No wonder we don't commit. We are terrified of each other, we are terrified of getting hurt, or the mess a breakup or a divorce leaves behind, we are terrified of missing out on life or even on finding the real "the One" if we settle too quickly.  In the meantime, we keep on keepin' on, dating, one-night-stand-ing, Netflix-and-chilling, trying to get one another to commit, all the while trying to fulfil our dreams before we finally settle down to what may hopefully be a "happily ever after."

Jane Eyre

Manitoba Theatre Centre (MTC) is a huge theatre company here in Winnipeg, founded in 1958. Every year, they put on tons of really great plays, so you could imagine my excitement when I heard they were putting on Jane Eyre!

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For those of you who haven't heard of it, Jane Eyre was published in 1847 by Charlotte Bronte. It's about Jane, an orphan who had a rough childhood, but kept her positivity despite it all, then goes Thornfield Hall to become a governess and falls in love with Mr. Rochester. Soon, she discovers a dark secret that will make their marriage impossible.

It's a beautiful love story, written in the same era as Pride and Prejudice, which I am totally fascinated with!

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The play was incredible! They used what is called "Chamber Theatre" which is when the narrative is included in the dialogue. For example; "He entered. Jane!" type of thing. I've never seen that done before, so it was really interesting. It worked really well to explain Jane's childhood. It looked like she was re-telling the story and it was perfect!

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As you can see on the pictures, the costumes were really, really well made and the set, which was super simple seemed like the best choice for this type of play. It gave us a lot of room for imagination. They did use a lot of humour when it came to the set. For example, there's a scene or two with horses, and it's people playing them (Mr. Rochester's character sits on two of the men's shoulders).

It was so good that I went home and watched the 2011 movie! I wish I could go back and see it again, that's for sure!

20 Years

Saturday night, my parents had a TON of people over to celebrate their wedding anniversary. They've been married for 20 years! It was a mix of family, friends, "long lost cousins" I've never heard of and co-workers to celebrate their anniversary, their (13 years late) housewarming and my aunt's birthday all at once! Here are a couple pictures to celebrate 20 years of marriage:

The Wedding Day

Wedding shoes, shirt and wedding picture

Congratulations Mom and Dad!