Vinnie's Version

Mr. Romance and Me - The Prequel!

After reading my first blog, my husband reminded me that 11 years prior to our meeting via the BBS, we’d actually met before. I confess that to this day, I have absolutely no recollection of this, but I CAN confirm the details... Here's his version:

Vinnie: “I used to hang out at the local Chess Club and the players would take turns picking up refreshments for everyone. One evening it was my turn, so I went to this doughnut shop just around the corner. There was a line-up, and when I finally got to the front of the line, I saw this nice looking girl working alone behind the counter. I wanted to hang out there longer, but it was hectic and she was busy. Clearly she was inexperienced, but to me she looked tremendous. Unfortunately that day I didn’t look any better than some bum stepping out from under a bridge. I had a beard and was really scrawny and scruffy. 

"So I placed my order. Like I said, she was really inexperienced behind the counter - but she was beautiful. I returned the next evening hoping to see the same girl again, and to my disappointment, she was not there. I kept going back, day after day after day, but she was no longer there. I was broken-hearted.

“Years later I met this girl by chance through an online BBS. She seemed vaguely familiar, and I never forget a face. When we were in the ‘getting to know you’ stage, it came up in conversation that she’d lived near the Chess Club for a short time. My mind did a small leap and I asked her if she’d ever worked at that doughnut shop. She said she had – but for one night only! When she showed me pictures of her from that time, it clicked that for sure, it was her.”

I was stunned when he told that I was his mystery crush - although all the facts fit. I had worked there for one night in 1982. I'd been petrified about having to work the graveyard shift, especially since it was in a somewhat seedy neighbourhood. So I asked two guys who lived in my building up the street, to sit at the counter and keep me company during my shift, which they readily agreed to, in exchange for endless cups of coffee, which I readily agree to. I was as frazzled as Lucy and Ethel in the chocolate factory TV episode and I quit the next morning. 

Unfortunately that’s all I remember of that fateful night. Thank heavens we finally met (again!) in 1993. We both firmly believe it was fate that brought us together, and here's the evidence:

We met 11 years after our initial meeting. 11 happens to be my favourite number.

My name’s Joyce. He’s from a small Italian village called Gioia, pronounced Joya.

His surname is D’Aprile which translates to ‘of April’. Can you guess when my birthday is? 

Vinnie’s name translated from the Italian means ‘to conquer’. I had an Uncle ‘Victor’.  

I’m a matzo ball, he’s a meatball. Both delicious menu choices!

Upon hearing this, a friend exclaimed, “You two are definitely Bashert!” (Bashert means Destiny in Yiddish.)

I taped my husband recounting his version of how we met, (for this blog) the other night. Afterwards I noticed the digital counter on my tape-recorder displaying this: 

 11/11

There's that number again - twice!

Coincidence? Perhaps. Synchronicity? Absolutely!

Coincidence occurs when something uncanny, accidental and unexpected happens under conditions named, but not under a defined relationship. /Wikipedia

Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance and that are observed to occur together in a meaningful manner. /Wikipedia

Picture courtesy of Google Images

Mr. Romance & Me

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, I thought my first blog entry should explain how I met my husband Vince. 

We were pioneers. No, we didn’t arrive in North America on the Mayflower, nor were we Fur Traders for the Hudson’s Bay Company. But we were among the first couples to meet via an online BBS.  Internet BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEMS were rudimentary local message boards and chat-rooms in the early 90s.  A friend hooked me up to the Internet for my birthday, in the Spring of 1993.  And that’s how I got drawn into the Great Electronic Universe - kind of like Jeff Bridges in the original TRON film, but without all the really cool animation.

A young Jeff Bridges in TRON Circa 1982.

After several weeks of chatting on The Powderkeg, a Writer’s BBS and message board, fondly known as The Keg, I also joined Black Lace, a social BBS and live chat board, whose name, I can assure you, was the ONLY really risqué thing about it, at least for me. At the time, it was quite a unique, heady experience to be sitting at my desk, typing away, 'chatting' with all these interesting people. 

One day I worked up the nerve to attend one of their weekly get-togethers at an east-end Pub. Calling myself Satin, (to my mind definitely a ‘smoother’ alias choice than perhaps, uh, Corduroy) I was accompanied by my dear friend Ellen, who had no clue about any of this BBS chat stuff, but gamely went along as my ‘security’. Known for her bon mots (clever remarks) and for constantly tossing around puns like grenades, she’s often joked that I should call her ‘The Unknown Celebrity’ like the Gong Show’s Unknown Comic. Okay… 
 

My friend Ellen as the 'Unknown Celebrity'!

The Unknown Comic - Nova Scotia's Murray Langston (The Gong Show, Late 70s)

Walking into the Pub, we spotted a table with two friendly-looking chaps who asked us to join them. Smoothie, a huggable, teddy bear of a guy, was sitting with this cute, skinny, dude who was sporting a 10 gallon Cowboy hat which appeared to be wearing him. I discovered to my amusement - and relief, that most of the fast-talking guys 'n gals I'd been chatting with over the 'Net, were basically sweet, shy, computer geeks. Although, trust me, some knew how to party-hearty. Fast forward 6 years…, guess which one was the D.J. and which one was the Groom at our wedding? If you guessed that I got hitched to cute Mr. Cowboy Hat, give yourself a pat on the back.

“How did you know he was THE ONE?" Glad you asked! I love to dance, and nobody seemed to be taking advantage of the Pub’s dance floor. Vinnie noticed me looking longingly at it, so he asked me to dance. Then he walked over to the D. J. and surprised me by requesting Chris de Burgh's song LADY IN RED as I was wearing a fuchsia blouse at the time. 

Here comes MY favourite part of this story - on the dance floor we seemed to melt into each other’s arms. Now in my case, enjoying dancing doesn’t mean being a great dancer, or even a good one. Normally I stumble around clumsily and over-enthusiastically, but for the first time EVER, I was actually floating around on the dance-floor like Ginger ‘Twinkletoes’ Rogers with my very own debonnaire Fred Astaire! And that, laddies and gentlewomen, is how I  KNEW we had something magical here… I mean the man literally swept me off my feet. Ah, l'amour! (Pausing now, for the collective swoon.)

Sheesh, were we ever that young? Vinnie and yours truly, the summer of 1995.
It’s one of the few pix of me with very long hair, and I’m wearing his cap. 
Neither of which you can see due to the darkness of the photo. Drat.

I was dating a few nice guys at that time, but nobody could hold a candle to Mr. Romance! We were inseparable from the moment we met, teetering on the precipice of 'Shmoopiness'.

 

Almost, but not quite as bad, as Seinfeld and Sheila.

Vinnie and Joycie's version of a P.D.A. (public display of affection): Once, when Vince and I were visiting my mother in Montreal, we found ourselves at the Berri-de Montigny metro station. It's the busiest subway artery in Montreal. There we encountered an extremely talented violinist playing a beautiful rendition of the Blue Danube.  Impulsively, Vinnie gathered me into his arms, and we danced right there on the platform until our train arrived.

André Rieu - The Blue Danube. Of course he was not our Metro Busker! ;);)

This Valentine's Day we’ll be celebrating almost 20 years of ‘tripping the light fantastic’. 

And the adventure continues…