Drums please...

My sister Myriam has been bugging me for a while now to get a picture of my boyfriend Shane. I have been promising her a picture but not delivering. Partly because I only have a few random pictures of Shane from a while back and no great picture of the two of us yet, that would bring justice to the beautiful man he is. So I guess I wanted to wait until I had a wonderful picture of the two of us, but because I am not sure I can get her to wait any more, I am introducing to my corner of the world the new man in my life, Mr. Christopher Shane Bradford…. Drums please…

I am therefore dedicating this entry to him, giving all of you - important people in my life - a brief and so incomplete overview of Shane… This is also a test to see how well I know him…!

Once upon a time, in a land very very flat, was born a man named Christopher Shane Bradford. He was born the son of the milkman (!) and a real-estate agent. This quiet but important event took place 32 years ago, on Nov. 13, in the plain land of Manitoba. He was then small and fragile, with piercing green eyes and blond hair. (He has kept the green eyes but exchanged the blond hair for really dark brown hair.)

Several years later, he went to school to become a steam engineer and worked as such for a little while. Having become bored at work, his dad encouraged him to follow his passion and to become a golf professional. Which he did. He moved to Lethbridge to study golf and business, and became a certified golf pro.

He moved to Banff, and worked at several golf courses such as Silvertip, Kananaskis Guest Ranch and Banff Springs golf courses around Banff & Canmore. Since then, he has taken a break from golf to spend some time in the tourism business. He has been working at the Red Carpet Inn in Banff with some other friends of ours, although last summer was spent in Manitoba with his mom.

He moved back to Banff in early October of last year and this is when I met him. He was a friend from church with whom I would regularly go for coffee or see several times a week. He became a close friend of mine as I became part of his support system here in town, while he was going through some tough times. Little did I know that he was already in love with me… I was at the time infatuated with an Australian boy and oblivious to anybody else. For my defense, I had noticed that he was very nice and gentle and caring but I thought he was like that with everyone, not only towards me. For instance, when my brother and my friend Yves came for Christmas, they hung out with Shane a lot while I was at work. They too had noticed that he was a quality guy with a really gentle spirit. Through time and efforts (and repeated prayers, he says), he made an impression on me and we started dating on March 23, a few days after my birthday.

This is the story so far… I could add lots more details but I won’t go on too long… All this to say: Shane, you rock my world!