I liked my sister-in-law as soon as I met her. I had actually met Shellie independent of meeting my husband Wayne, whom I met through work. Shellie, I met through Scouting - we were both Beaver leaders... and met at training and various area scouting events and became friends... At the same time I was reconnecting with Wayne, getting stuck working together every day teaching two half day summer camps.. but I digress and that's a family story for another day...
I put the two together when, a few months after Wayne and I started working together he invited me to a barbecue at his house and out walks Shellie and I ask her how she knows Wayne... at which point she's roaring laughing - because neither of them - my future husband or his sister had ever put together that the Heather they had both been talking about was the same person :
She'd been ranting about her little brother off and on and he'd talked about how her older sister was thinking of moving back home when he left to complete his last year of college because she was separating from her husband... but neither had ever mentioned a name :)
Wayne and I began dating after he headed back to university a few hours away and Shellie did indeed move home... and we starting getting together more often - two single girls hanging out... me, waiting for the weekends where I'd have the car to be able to drive down to Brock to see Wayne, and her as she re-adjusted to single life.
At the same time, an opportunity came up in Scouting for both of us to take over a Cub Scout group without leadership and so we became partners in crime... or as criminal as you could be when dealing with a dozen eight to ten year old kids (Canadian Scouting was co-ed by then)..
Shellie's wicked sense of humour is what drew me in first I think... her mind worked a mile a minute and she was forever thinking so far ahead of the current situation that once you caught up you laughed for hours... She could also stop you in your tracks with a look...
Plus, she was a few years older than me and had a cool job working downtown at a property management firm... and after school I would take the subway down and hang out at happy hour with her... to shoot a round of pool, people watch or just grab a drink.
She was also a fountain of useful knowledge... at trivia... her eidetic memory was great for playing NTN at the bar and killing hours...
We'd meet to go to the movies and end up going for coffee instead... and she'd give me the inside skinny on her brother... his past dating life, his childhood obsession with baseball, and of course the story of how he generously gave her the gift every older sister wants from her younger brother... permission to inflict bodily harm that would draw blood...
When Wayne was in high school, it was in the late 80's and it was becoming a trend that men got one ear pierced, so for Christmas one year, Wayne offered to let Shellie pierce his ear with a sewing needle and an ice cube.. You should have seen the way she told this story... with both a fondness and a little sadism ... she was nice and numbed the ear and of course sterilized the needle... but just to have had the opportunity to freely maim her tormenting little bro was a highlight...
Just as Wayne was finishing up his studies at Brock, Shellie met and decided to move out of town with a new guy... she had always hankered to get out of Toronto... She preferred nature to smog, small towns to big office towers... and she was looking for a fresh start... I think Toronto still held a lot of reminders of her marriage and other points in her life she wanted to forget...
Plus, housing in Toronto was expensive and she was souring a little on her job ... she loved the numbers she worked with, but not always the people... so she up and packed everything to move to London... She rented a cute little apartment and got a job working less with numbers and more with people but still in property management... We lost touch a little after that... she was busy setting up her new life in London and I was working on my last year of school and working nearly full time...
Next week, I'll tell you what happened the next time we saw each other... we both had good news to share ... so please stop back next Sunday and see what happened
(Read part two here )
