#MicroblogMondays: 40 years!!

40 years ago last night, I went to a party that changed my life. 

I had just started my third year of university, and was living in the same all-female dorm where I'd spent first and second year (and where I would also live in fourth year too). The dorm was connected to a much older, stately brick residence (built in 1912) by another building (1960s) which housed the administrative offices and cafeteria where we all ate. One wing of that older residence (the west wing) was all-male, and the other (east wing) was a mix of same-sex and co-ed floors. 

Most Friday &/or Saturday nights, there was some kind of "social" (dance) or party going on at one of the residences or elsewhere on campus. Often, before the big/main party started, there would be a "pre-party," where two or more floors would get together to break the ice and get to know each other better over preliminary drinks. 

October 24, 1981, was the annual "inter-rez" social at the student union building on campus, bringing together residents from all the student dormitories on campus. (I wrote down the details in my datebook, which I still have.) Before we headed over, my all-girls floor got together with an all-guys floor from the adjacent dorm for a pre-party in the east wing lounge -- a beautiful old room with wood panelling and a huge fireplace and windows overlooking the gymnasium on the level below.  

I met a lot of guys that evening, but I particularly remember chatting with a very nice (and nice-looking) one -- a pre-masters student, slightly older than most of his floormates, who told me he was from Toronto. That stuck out for me, because (a) not too many grad students lived in residence, and (b) not too many people came to our school from Toronto -- which was not exactly a popular place in western Canada in the early 1980s -- if it ever was or has been, before or since, lol. 

Reader, I married him.  :) 

Not right away, of course. ;)  (The wedding happened not quite four years later.) I'll admit, I thought he was a very nice guy, but sparks didn't fly -- at least not right away, for me anyway. (He claims they did for him!)  I was kind of enjoying playing the field again after a painful breakup the previous year with the handsome architecture student who'd stolen my heart in first year. 

But our two floors hit it off that evening -- Toronto Guy (i.e., dh) was one of an entire floor of very nice, cute, fun guys -- and they quickly became my floor's favourites to party with and eat dinner in the cafeteria with that year. My floormates & I would often drop by to visit them, by ourselves or in pairs or small groups, going from room to room to chat (everyone kept their doors open, unless they were deep into studying.) I remember dancing with him at the Halloween social, where he wore a lab coat (easy costume), and at the Christmas social (just before we all headed home for break), where he kissed me under the mistletoe. We finally got together at the Ukrainian New Year's social in mid-January. Our official first date happened about a week later (on Jan. 22, 1982), and we've been together ever since then. 

40 years. Yikes! 

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here. 

Who ARE these kids?? 
(Spring 1982 residence formal, a few months into being a couple.
My dress cost all of $19.99.)