UNCONVENTIONAL LAUGHTER

This is a work in process and is certainly not complete nor edited. Please be patient as this all gets drafted over the next few months. Thank you!

Steve

INDEX
– Open
– Thought
– Thanks!
– The Introduction

THE SHORTIES
– Story 1   – The Cupboard
– Story 2   – A Very Drunken Night
– Story 3   – The Trip and The Fall
– Story 4   – “The Car Was Towed!”
– Story 5   – Locked in the Bathroom
– Story 6   – Finding an Apartment – Branka’s Building
– Story 6   – Indoctrination
– Story 7   – Nuno
– Story 8   – Croatia
– Story 9   – The Live Auction
– Story 10 – Melatonin
– Story 11 – Belgrade
– Story 12 – Thursday Nights
– Story 13 – Going to Grandma’s
– Story 14 – The Boat
– Story 15 – The Letters
– Story 16 – Casablanca was Born
– Story 17 – Painting Nights
– Story 18 – Mother-In-Law

OPEN
Footprints in the sand
       Are washed away by the mighty sea
Like our lives they are here
       And in a short time washed away

Steven Lemire: age 14

More to add:
– Perspective: we came and 13 years later someone else comes and I’m now Ken.  Meeting him at planned pethood
– She was skinny and I was tall when we first came to Merida

Thought
The prior Open is not meant to be a premise of what lies with the stories ahead, but a thought of what I felt as a youth.  There’s a limited time for everyone, so why always do what’s right, when you can do something that makes you laugh.  Have some wonderful experiences and ultimately do what makes you happy, with whatever time you have and being able to share it with everyone around you?  So, dream and dream big, the only loss is not trying to get there.

It is truly our hope that you find similarities in your life.  That we can add a few extra smiles to your faces, as you take some quick and short glimpses of how you can easily find the feeling of simply being free and happy.

It is infectious and gives you warmth inside.

Thanks
This magical woman caused me to trip and fall.  Never a day has passed that she hasn’t been consistent in her personality.  She has allowed me all the freedom to be me.  Flaws and all.  With her came her daughter Sara (now our daughter).  She would challenge me to find a way to accept her and through a variety of small youthful storms over the years laughter ensued.

I have said for at least two decades, that as long as you have more good days than bad, your life is exceptional. 

Thank you, Sanda and Sara, for an exceptional life.

THE INTRODUCTION

Here we are. 

It’s the 70’s and I’m growing up in the yet undiscovered city of Vancouver, Canada.  I’m 16 and it’s 1983.  I’m 2 years away from graduating high school.  I spent most of my days outside from school at the beach.  I would bike there any chance I had to meet up with my friends from school and those from other schools that I competed against in the various sports I played.  I was an extremely active kid.  I played football, soccer, volleyball, tennis, basketball and more.  When winter came, you couldn’t keep me away from the mountains to go skiing.  It was my overall passion.  The moment the first dusting of snow fell on the hills across from English Bay, I’d have my skis in hand and ready to go. 

One thing you have to realize, is that in those days, skiing was a recreation that most people participated in.  Vancouver wasn’t the big, metropolitan city that it is today.  It was a raw city that was waiting for it’s time to grow and expand.  In those days there was nothing open on a Sunday, other than 7-11.  It was a family day.  Not even the pharmacy was open on a Sunday.  You could go out on Broadway, the main street that drove through the various areas of town from East to West, on any Sunday night, meet up with your friends after 9pm and play a game of soccer on the street.  Everyone was home with family…but us kids. 

I was relatively naive growing up, as there were no cell phones, laptops or iPads.  There were telephone booths everywhere and my mom used to ensure that you always had a 25-cent coin in your running shoe, just in case you had to call home from any one of the multitudes of booths scattered throughout the city.  On those odd days that you spent all your pocket money and you left your bike at home, in wasn’t uncommon to simply go to any major street, stand on the curb and stick your thumb out and hitch a ride until you made it close enough to home that you could walk the last few blocks. 

My parents were amazing people.  They gave you all the tools to be a wonderful human being and made sure you understood and appreciated and respected your elders and siblings.  Having said that, even if you didn’t have a cell phone to set your alarm, but your alarm clock or your digital watch, if you could afford one.   There was one thing that you never, ever did, which was to arrive late for dinner.

I grew up in a family of 9 people.  My parents, 2 eldest sisters and 4 older brothers.  So, when your mom spends all day managing all the details of the house, including preparing all the meals, including breakfast for 9 people (including herself) lunches in paper bags with all the wonderful homemade treats, that you traded amongst your friends for various bribes or play, then there was dinner time.  5pm.  There was no 5:15pm or 5:01pm, it was 5.  As important as it was to have a good breakfast to start your day or a lunch to keep you going, as an active child, dinner was the most important meal for my household.  And you do not ever miss it without a massive excuse.  The timing was a foundation of showing that you respected you parents and all the hard work they did and it was a time to share your days stories with each of you family members and get you prepared for doing home work and simply be close with all the people that really meant the most in your life.  We were a very close-knit group of people and family.  We would laugh most days sitting around the dinner table.

Story 1 – The Cupboard

For me, the Cupboard is where my idea of where my future was going turned completely up side down.  It’s also where all the laughter 1st began.

Story 2 – A Very Drunken NightStory 3 – The Trip and The Fall