The story of how Joanne and I met is unusual at best.
I was introduced to Joanne online by a friend one night in early 1998 while she was
seeking help with a computer virus. Though we conversed only for a few minutes,
this conversation was to form the foundation to our courtship. It wasn't until some months
later that I actually sat down and had a real conversation with her; one that
spanned some 12 hours and ended only as the sun was peeking over the horizon.
In the years that were to follow, we grew closer and would spend hours talking
on the phone; a fantastic accomplishment in itself; as Joanne was in Australia and
I was in Canada, and with neither of us being particularly wealthy it was
an astounding feat that we were able to accomplish this with such relative ease.
We exploited every avenue possible to be able to talk to each other on a daily basis,
including internet telephony as well as calling cards. One such card, which no longer
exists, offered over 12 hours of talk time for $20, which I utilized extensively.
By mid-2000, our relationship had grown to the point where we critically needed to
meet in person. I decided that I would take a massive leap of faith and disregard my
fears and apprehensions; and in September I boarded a plane enroute to Australia to
meet Joanne for the very first time. Travelling halfway around the world on a chance
would seem like a huge step for most people to undertake, and there were many occasions
where I found myself facing massive conflicts; and on more than one occasion I felt like
backing out. I held on and refused to give in to my fears, and on September 26th, 2000 I
found myself enroute to Australia via Japan. During this adventure, I noted the following:
"There is little more that could qualify as more fun than transferring flights
between two 10-hour flight segments in a foreign country. My opinion regarding
air travel in general is that paying a small fortune to be subjected to
subhuman treatment for extended periods of time seems more like a corporate
practical joke than the luxury it's extended to be.
Either way, taking accomodation in a jet-powered aluminum tube propelled at
600mph at 35,000 feet above the ground for extended spaces of time seems to
evade the boundaries of sanity. Regardless of these observations, thousands of
passengers embark daily on travels to foreign destinations without a thought
to the frailty of their existence.
As to extend the thoughts and considerations of air travel, one must consider
the impecable luxuries which are offered by your choice airline. Without
resorting to selling body parts and possibly services, the average traveller will
be confined to "economy class" which is somewhat of an anachronism and should be
more suitably referred to as "hell sans brimstone class". You will be treated to
bare minimal service lacking every possible amenity, emphasized only by the excessively
dim, slack-jawed illiterate person in the seat in front of you reclining his seat
back well past it's intended limit to reduce your normal 4-inch allowance for
legroom by any measuarable amount. And, to compound this travesty, this very same
troglodite leaves his seat in this position for the entire duration of your
painfully long flight, shredding away the last remaining fragments of enjoyment
gleaned from the customarily bland inflight meals and rendering sleep impossible,
leaving you with no recourse other than to attempt to watch whichever semblance
their inflight movie actually has to a movie, or to stare out of the window, if
you are so fortunate as to actually have a window.
Arriving at your intermediate destination is a remarkable relief, if only to
rid yourself of the abomination in the seat in front of you, and to give
yourself the chance to admire the indentations left in your feet from the
bolts on the floor they were wedged against. Strange, it seems, how the
decadence of travellers seem unaffected by the perils and torments of air
travels, whilst inflicting immesurable discomfort and suffering on others by
their ignorance and disregard.
In addition, I find to my illicit delight that there seems to be an unspoken
competitiveness between pilots, such as to enact the roughest and most
uncomfortable landing possible without damaging the aircraft or seriously
injuring anyone. Even with these unspoken directives, there still seems to be
the occasional overly enthusiastic pilot attempting to break the record. One
such landing was on my flight from Sydney to Tokyo, when the pilot mistook the
runway to be several inches lower than it actually was. The resulting landing
permanently reconfigured my spinal column whilst simultaneously teleporting a
variety of objects from the rear of the aircraft to the front, including
a very heavy and dangerous case of wine bottles which travelled from behind me
and nearly made it to business class!
I applaud this pilot who obviously now holds the title of this competition, and
furthermore his subsequent navigation of the Tokyo airport runway system which
is not much unlike some giant interstate highway after a large number of
earthquakes, set in the area the size of the playing field in a third-world football
stadium and filled with sleep and sanity depraved, irritible pilots jockeying for
position at the airport's terminals. If there ever was a need to equip Boeing
747's with roll-down windows in the cockpit, this airport is it. Never, ever
land at Tokyo International without a horn-equipped aircraft."
In Australia, I spent an amazing two weeks with Joanne in a blissfully stress-free
environment. All of the years of stress, despondence and torment were instantly
dissolved, and we found ourselves making plans for the future.
Joanne cancelled her university studies and bought tickets to come to Canada. The
plan was for her to visit for six months so we could spend a lot of time together and get
to know each other better.
Joanne arrived at Vancouver International Airport on December 21st, 2000, and we
were prepared to spend a long and highly exciting six months together. Unfortunately,
iaNett had already been facing some difficult business problems which hampered our finances
significantly. We still enjoyed several short jaunts around the country, and enjoyed
ourselves thoroughly. We got engaged in February, and made plans to be married in August 2001.
We enjoyed a surprisingly temperate wedding ceremony held in a local park in a serene
setting under a large oak tree in a clearing skirted by varied foliage and surrounded by
chattering jackanapes squirrels, among various other guests. We were married in the late
afternoon, just as the golden Autumn sun began to sink in the perfect sky; it's light
filtering through the mixed foliation and casting perfect shadows across the carpet of green
that we traversed. Our lives has truly begun, and amongst the turmoil and inevitabilities of
life, I had truly found the one with whom I who would fulfill my dreams.
Joanne became a permanent resident of Canada on the 17th of January 2002, and it was then
that our lives truly began. Although it's a shame that we spend so much of it working,
we still manage to find ways to enjoy each day to the greatest extent possible. Our lives
have been a symbol of happiness and satisfaction in living, but still there has been the
occasional moment when we think back on all of the obstacles that we overcame to be here today.
Yes it's a hard life
Two lovers together
To love and live forever in each others hearts
It's a long hard fight
To learn to care for each other
To trust in one another - right from the start
When you're in love
Yes it's a hard life
In a world that's filled with sorrow
There are people searching for love in ev'ry way
It's a long hard fight
But I'll always live for tomorrow
I'll look back on myself and say I did it for love
Yes I did it for love - for love - oh I did it for love
-Freddie Mercury
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