We were at a dinner party recently and the topic of the night (after we gave our septic system updates) was first jobs. There were four couples ranging in age from 59 to 82. We weren’t allowed to say babysitting or paper delivery. A wide range of income strategies were admitted. We had everything from a rabbit pellet hunter (sorry Barb) to a garbage man. Of course, as we moved around the table and each described their first employment there were the accompanying funniest job anecdotes. It was an excellent topic for a dinner party with a group of people with a wide range of backgrounds. 

For the record, my first job was as a waitress at the planetarium. I had to wear a mini skirted sailor suit with pantaloons peaking from underneath and refer to the supervisor as my first mate. E was a short order cook on the evening train from Vancouver to Winnipeg. 

Today, E is in town running errands and I am at home hiding from the rain. I have our first pot of soup of the winter on the stove. I attempted homemade French bread and made some biscotti for dessert. I was thinking as I kneeded the bread that the next time we eight meet for dinner a good topic would be what was our defining moment. For example was a Doctor’s defining moment when he saw Markus Welby or when he asked the girl next door for a peak… 

I think my defining moment was October 4th, 1980 when E made me dinner on our first date. My life was never the same. True neither of us had particularly interesting careers or personal accomplishments. In fact all we really wanted out of life was kids, a family. If we could raise three kids who didn’t hate us or end up in jail that was legacy enough. Life did end up a little more interesting than we bargained on with the whole heart transplant thing but by and large it’s been pretty routine and yet awesome. 

We can’t always talk about septic systems here so it’s good to have some backup topics for dinner parties. I don’t remember as many details about my defining moment as I would like. If you had told me that when I walked into his basement suite on Kits point for dinner that fall night my life was going to change forever I would have probably 

paid more attention.