First we met on a very special date between the first anniversary of 9-11 and a Friday the 13th, we met on September 12, 2002. I was flying to London that day to visit Suzie, I was supposed to go only in May but when she announced me that they would probably move back to Canada around Christmas, I decided to make a move and go in September. My pre-booked seat was not on the window so I made it to the airport extra early (4hrs before my departure time) to try to get a window seat. No luck, there was nothing available so I had to keep the one that was assign initially. It was in an airbus 330, I like these planes, very comfortable and there is only two side wide on each side. So I get to my seat and I am on the side aisle seat. I set up my self with my book but I am not really reading… I am spotting the passengers and commenting to myself, my desire on having them as a “seat companion” for the flight… 6-hour flight you don’t want to spend it with just anybody. “Ah no, not that woman, she probably stink perfume”, “I hope it is not this big guy” … ”Hummmm, I would not mind this one!” and to my surprise, he excuses himself and put his book on the window seat beside me. I am all excited. I stand to let me in… he needs to put his stuff away on the overhead bin. I stand again to let him in as he walked in, he turns to me and asks me if I would like the window seat that he prefers the aisle but always end up with the window… If I would like the window seat, I would love the window seat! That was it! I was in love! We introduce each other, Mike, nice name… and talk about everything and nothing, music, pets, traveling plans… He is a firefighter! That is the jackpot. We are having a great time laughing and talking! He was supposed to go watch the Riders Cup with a friend last year but because of 9-11 it was cancelled and postponed to this year. We both got our dinner before everybody else because I get the non-lactose and he gets vegetarian. I thought it was a mistake and that he was getting mine because we exchange seats but no we both had a special menu. After dinner I wanted to sleep a little because I knew that with my friend’s 1-year-old son, I would have a busy day when I would arrive. At that point Mike told me that he was disappointed that I would go to sleep because he was really enjoying our conversation. I fell a sleep wondering how I could give him my phone number and not looking like a loser… When I woke up, he put his personal business card on my table and asks me to call him when I will visit Ottawa that we could talk about our trip… I answer that I don’t go to Ottawa and that he should give me a call, and I slide my card. He is a carpenter on the side, WOW! Did I say jackpot! We kept on talking and laughing. The movie in the plane was spiderman. Mike is part of a repelling team with the Ottawa fire department. He made me laugh when I asked how they were going back up building and that he gave me a spiderman move as an answer. We got to the custom and there was a mega line up...We waited for an hour before we made it to the desk. He let me go first... he is such a gentleman. The lady asked me if we were traveling together... I guess I did not know what she meant, I said yes so she asked him to get to the desk to realised that we were not really traveling together since we were not going to the same place... oups! I think I blushed when I realised my mistake. We made it through. When we got across the door, Mike's friend Leon was waiting for him. Suzie sent a cab for me, so we started looking around for somebody with a sign but no luck. Leon had to go to work so Mike had to leave. So we said bye with kisses on the cheeks... I have to use my French Canadian excuse... I kept on looking around. I could not find the cab driver. I called Suzie and the guy said that he was waiting at the meeting point... he was not there! Than who showed up? Mike, he came back to see if I had found the cab... He looked again with me for a few minutes but he had to go... So we said good by again. We did not get to see each other while we were in Europe, our schedules did not match. But when he got back to Canada, he was coming back after me, he drop me a line and we ended up meeting in Montreal, and in Merrickville, and in Montreal, and in Merrickville....
