« Dorval Days »

I've recently reconnected with some elementary school friends through Facebook, and specifically through a group called "If you grew up in Dorval, Qc...You remember when..." It's been fun remembering the friends of my youth.  Today, one of the members of the Facebook group asked who remembered the John XXIII performance of Oliver! This is what I wrote - a memory of a friend I hadn't met yet! 

Have I ever got a great Oliver story for you! Some years back I was introduced to a charming, effervescent, well-travelled woman who had just arrived to live in Niagara with her kids and her husband, the new winemaker for Le Clos Jordanne. They had lived in Burgundy and in Oregon, but we quickly established that they were originally Quebecois, and that she had grown up in Dorval. Of smillar ages, we began to compare notes as to what friends we might have in common. Not as many as we might have thought! She went to John XXIII and I went to Dorval High. When she mentioned John XXIII, that got me going about how great their high school was and how they had so many facilities that Dorval High did not, such as the pool and the theatre. Then I told her about how I so clearly remember sitting in the theatre during Oliver! and looking up at this kid on the stage who was playing the Artful Dodger and thinking how amazing he/she was and what a fabulous opportunity these kids had with such a great theatre program. As I'm telling the story, my new friend gets a very strange look on her face. "I WAS that kid," she said. "I was the Artful Dodger!" I still get shivers. 

Mary Monica Delaney and I SHOULD have met so many times in our youth. Our stories intersect on numerous occasions. But we didn't meet until the Niagara wine industry brought us together. Good friends now, we are making up for lost time!"

Mary and her husband, Thomas Bachelder, now have their own winery project, called Bachelder. They are making Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in Niagara, Burgundy and Oregon. 

Comments

[Pat Milland]

I love how the Universe Unfolds! :) There is no such thing as coincidence. What a wonderful story! It only makes sense that you finally met. Like attracts like...