Full Speed Ahead

One -30 C day in January, my friends and I were gathered around the piano in the student lounge at Campus Saint-Jean — or Collège Saint-Jean, as it was called back then. As we took turns singing and playing, I spotted a student I’d never seen before. Because I am such a shy person (just kidding, no one has ever called me that), I started chatting with him and discovered he lived near me. I asked if I could catch a ride home. We walked outside, and Maurice Breault, ’75 BEd, had the nicest-looking car I’d ever seen — a bright red ’64 Acadian Beaumont.

I kept catching rides with Moe. I eventually realized how he could afford the convertible — he’d bought it with the driver’s side all banged in! But he always parked it with the nice side facing my parents’ house. On our rides, we never stopped talking. You know how they say opposites attract? I’m flamboyant, while he’s quiet and calm. But he has a wicked sense of humour.

Just over a year after we first met, we gathered with our parents on the eve of our wedding. My dad put on an old home movie of me at French kindergarten and, all of a sudden, Moe’s mom shouted, “Oh my gosh, there’s little Maurice — and he’s chasing Paulette!” Turns out, I didn’t make the first move after all, and Moe had finally caught me.

We’ve had quite the life over the last 50 years. We’ve done everything together, from raising two children to developing a franchise to teaching junior high — where we were always known as “Mr. B and Mrs. B.” (Moe earned his education degree and I got a teaching certificate). Now, we own a bookstore in West Kelowna that we run with Gracie, our 7½-pound Cairn Terrier-Yorkie mix.

Our love has long outlasted that convertible, but the vehicle made an impression. Every one I’ve bought since, I’ve made sure it’s red.

Submit your own love story at newtrail@ualberta.ca.