The Wan's

Ahh... Geoffrey. (I never call him that).

I met Geoff when I was 14. Him 16. I may have told this story before, but this is my blog, so I'll tell it again. We went to different highschools. Had different friends. How we met was a little peculiar (for those times anyway). At that time in age, internet was pretty new. (Gosh, are we old?). And between highschools, there was a bulletin board system, which is essentially a network that you can use dial-up modems to connect to. It connected some of the highschools in our city into a common chatroom. The purpose of this network was for school and homework help. Obviously, for curious teenagers, it was more of a place to meet strangers from different schools. In these golden years, it was much more safe to do so but definitely a no-no with parents. We chatted online and decided to meet in person one day at the Oakridge Library. I'm laughing inside thinking back on how that went...

Anyway, we hung out now and then. I met some of his friends, and he met mine. Some of the people in my life now are friends I met through connections through him. I made it to some of his live gigs when he was part of a band. He played the guitar for me on my 16th birthday. I watched him go through his break-up with his highschool sweetheart and met all his girlfriends after the first. He was always so eager for me to meet them. Meanwhile, he watched me go through a sour relationship with one of his friends. Through the years, he wrote me lengthy letters and Christmas cards. And right before he left of Australia for dental school, he made me a CD of songs he played. I remember I cried.

Fast foward 16 years, and here we are now. Adults. Geoff is married now. And honestly, I cannot imagine anyone else more perfect for him than his wife, Kia. They live in Australia now, meaning meeting up or hanging out has become a once-a-year event. This year, on a balmy, summer evening, we met up at Sandbar in Granville Island and enjoyed a wonderful dinner together. I yakked off a storm with Kia ... and I gotta say, I was never able to do that with any of his past girlfriends. Needless to say, I love them both.

I made a huge deal about where we should eat and Shum didn't get it. \

"Kia wants mussels and beer, so we can go to Sandbar, but should we go to Granville Island?".

Shum : "Why not? They seem pretty easy going."

Me : "Sandbar's pretty good, right? Should we go to Granville Island?".

Shum : "I don't get it. Why not? Let's go."

I finally admitted. "They are easy going. But I know Geoff's going to say he's okay with wherever we go... but I know he hates Granville Island."

We ended up eating there anyway, because my fickleness was becoming even more annoying than Granville Island ever will be. After dinner, Geoff says, "Good choice for dinner. Good food. Great view. A pretty good place here. Even though ugghmm.... ".

Me : ".... Even though you hate Granville Island?".

"Yah."

Kia adds, "You know he hates Granville Island! I love this place, and I can never get him to come. But that is Geoff. He'll whine and complain about doing something he doesn't want to do and say he's doing it just because I want to, but after he's done it, he surprises himself by really enjoying it."

Even though our meet-ups have become far and few, it's good to know that I still remember a thing or two. Friends for life... it's totally gonna happen.