Stuart & Amanda
Stuart and Amanda met in the mid-1970s, in their late 20s, at a press conference in Montreal.
Both journalists, he was based in Toronto and she in Vancouver, where much of her family was living. They carried on a long-distance relationship for a while, until she broke it off.
“I wanted to be based in the west and seeing him only occasionally was not enough for me,” says Amanda.
Stuart stayed in the east and soon married his former high school crush, with whom he went on to have five children.
Amanda pursued a PhD and focused on her career, dating intermittently over the years.
Eventually, she ended up in Toronto. They were aware the other was there, but had minimal contact, only running into each other at cultural and political events from time to time.
Years later, after celebrating her 70th birthday abroad, Amanda, still involved in various writing projects, found buried in her many emails, a note from Stuart, inviting her to lunch. She took her time replying, thinking he wanted a casual catch-up.
When they finally connected for lunch, and then had a second lunch date shortly thereafter, she realized that perhaps this was more than a bistro chat. His children had grown, and his marital status had changed. He told Amanda that he had never stopped thinking about her. She admitted she also had strong memories of their past together.
Still, she was petrified about having an intimate relationship at 70! “How does it work at this age?” she asked a friend, who told her to “figure it out.”
When the couple decided to live out their years together, not much later, Stuart gifted Amanda a dress of her choosing, for their first of many special dinner dates.
She found a fitted, mid-calf white linen dress for the occasion, which he remembers as being “stunning and would be forever etched” in his memory.
Five years later, she is wearing that same dress as they finally exchange their vows.
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