I was sitting in a community centre in the Patershol neighbourhood of Ghent this afternoon, enjoying my coffee with Avocat.

A fellow asked if he could sit with me.  And so it began …

Marc lives in Ghent.  He easily moved into English and said that his wife would be arriving later.

Marc is clearly an historian and hearing that I was new to the city he began sharing its secrets.  It was clear that he wanted to express, to contribute, and I knew that I would go with it.

The facts and events came fast and furious – too rapid for me to absorb but that didn’t matter.  I was enjoying being with Marc.  I now remember about barrels of wine, about Belgium being created as a buffer between England, France and Germany, about a  Spanish emperor who dominated the area long ago.

Marc was enjoying me and I was enjoying him.  It was all so fresh and new.

He also talked about the love of his life – Dani.  If I got the facts right, they were a young couple for six years, then married for twenty-two.  Sadly they divorced and for four years explored life without each other.

Both finally realized that they were missing their true life partner.  So they reunited for the next thirty-five years of marriage.  Such a sweet story.

I saw what Marc was talking about when Dani arrived.  Someone made them for each other.  They talked about exploring Alaska and British Columbia, and then Montreal.  I was a Canadian reunion.

Marc and I will go walking in Ghent someday soon.  I will learn more.  And I will have a new friend (two actually).

Ghent joins