She completes me... she's weird; but she definitely completes me.

The week we first met after 23 years.

yeah, cause I'm weird... lmao... see next pic!

See, we're perfect for each other lmfao...

A real angel... with butterfly wings. told ya she was weird. :`)

Helping me demo during a seminar.

Finally looking somewhat normal the both of us... :`)

Tania Garby... I hadn't heard that name since 1986. She was my first 'real' girlfriend. Real as in we were each other's 'first'. Yeah. And she broke my heart. Twice. :`) She broke up with me twice during the course of 8 or so months back in 1986 and I was never to hear from or of her again. Until one fateful day back in 2008 and out of nothing more than complete curiosity... I typed her name into Facebook. Of course, if wasn't to be as easy as that... her profile picture was of the tip of a kayak and her security features were good enough to not let me see any other of her pics. So I wasn't sure if it was indeed her or not... after all, it had been 22 years now.

 

So I decide to send a message to this Tania Garby, kinda re-introducing myself, asking if she remembered who I was, etc. and I never really expected a reply. Within 20 minutes I get one and she definitely did remember, her first sentence was "of course I remember, you were my first and I broke your heart, I am so sorry!"

Lmao... she held onto the guilt of trampling my heart at the tender age of 17... what a woman. :`) Anyway, so from there, we kept in touch and occasionally wrote to each other for over a year until finally one day, she finally got the nerve to give me a call. She was kinda nervous too for a while... it was so strange hearing her voice again after now, 23 years... same voice too.

At this point in time, I had already accepted a working contract in Cairo Egypt and she was living in the west of Canada anyway, while I was on the east. We both kind of felt bad that we weren't getting the chance to hook up after all these years, so she invites me to stay a week with her out west in Jasper Alberta. I oblige, and we instantly hit it off... scary thing is, she is like a female version of me. We are too alike in too many ways... it keeps us close and bonded but it can also be difficult as well as a learning experience for us both, it offers us the opportunity of maintaining clear communicative lines, honesty and empathy at the same time. A great method of personal growth if one is willing to keep their egos under their heals. It isn't always easy, but then, no relationship is ever always easy.

The great thing about this woman is her generosity, her kindness, her devotion and her unbridled passion. She basically made the decision to pack her bags and move to Egypt to be with me, a country she never even so much as visited first. She dropped all her plans, her friends, her entire life back in Alberta Canada and she moved to Egypt to be with me. This is of course after she flew to Montreal 3 weeks prior to my departure just to help me with my packing and last minute travelling issues and see me off... she took 3 weeks off of work to basically come to Montreal to help me and be with me as long as she could before I left the country for what was then, an indefinite period of time.

No one has ever done anything like that for me before. And one of the greatest things about this particular relationship, isn't so much that we are each other's first and last, it isn't so much that we are so similar, or lived parallel lives or that we both share the same visions and passions... no... the greatest things about it is that she fell in love with me, not the guy who created Senshido. She didn't fall in love with an image... she had no idea what I even did for a living at the time, at least nowhere near in detail.

Today she helps me tremendously with Senshido. She helped get a seminar together for us in Cairo which was life changing for many. She assisted me in teaching and helped me demo and was full of love when it came to the students. We've been referred to as the ghetto version of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt by Adora Spencer (Celebrity Connector), and an inspirational couple by many others... thing is, we look nothing like Jolie and Pitt. I look more like Pitt's asshole than like Pitt himself... but then my looks were never my strong point either :`) Hell, I wouldn't mind being Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie for a day! Or decade.

So.... Why did I share this with you all? To give props to my Lady cause she does so much for so many and it's inspirational to be thanked for the good that one brings to other people's lives. It helps one continue to forge on selflessly in the service of others. Love you babe! You mean everything to me!

Much peace,

Rich