Fern

I met Fern in May 1994. She was a student at a school adjacent to where I was employed in Singapore. During my first week at the school, I snuck out of a boring meeting and went to have a cigarette on the outer edge of the college where she was learning English, sponsored by the import/export company that was employing her at that time.

Anyway, when I spotted her walking past, I was feeling a bit confident, so I looked at her and said “where are you from?” She responded Chiang Rai, but due to my poor hearing, I heard Chiang Mai. So I blurted out, “OH, i love that place!! I would love to go there one day and build a beautiful house out in the country!” She laughed, tossed her very long and beautiful hair…

…and said “that is never going to happen.” Feeling a bit taken aback, I countered with “Oh, is that so? Why do you say that?” Then she looked me straight in the eye and said, “Because in Thailand foreigners are not allowed to own land. If you want to have a place in Thailand, you will have to marry a Thai. To which I immediately responded, “Oh, ok, no problem, I will marry you!”

We both laughed, and somehow got married a year later.

On our first trip to Canada, I took her to our family cottage near Mt. Tremblant in the Laurentians. I managed to catch a couple of decent bass. We brought them up to the cottage and I took out a few knives to slice up the fish. She asked me if I preferred that she do it. I said sure, why not? And then I was witness to an amazing display of fish gutting, as accomplished as a sashimi chef in japan. Her combination of practicality and amazing beauty was dazzling, and still is 28 years later.

Funny how love arrives in a life, funnier still, how it stays.