Cathy's Version
Room 4168
The annual trip to Montreal and Quebec City was coming to a close. There was just one more night to "live free". In the morning, the group of students would board the bus for the long trip back to Woburn, Massachusetts. Cathy's roommates were getting themselves ready in an effort to try to sneak into the forbidden disco downstairs at the Chateau Frontenac. But, Cathy had decided to stay in the room and read the French magazine she had purchased earlier during the day. Looking for a spot out of the way of the bustle going on in the room, she discovered the wide window sill--the perfect spot.
After some time, she heard someone yelling in the courtyard. Although she heard the noise, she tried to ignore it. Her roommates also heard it and in their eagerness to investigate, almost pushed her out the window! People in other rooms had heard the shouting, as well, and had opened their own windows to see what was going on. Soon, more people joined in, exchanging cities of origin and room phone numbers. Then, the phone rang.
One of her roommates answered the phone and handed it over to Cathy saying that the guy on the other end wanted to talk with her! Astounded by this, she hesitantly took the receiver. On the other end was a deep, smooth voice which was nervously trying to make conversation. The roommates crowded around her to find out what was going on. Soon, they discovered that the guys wanted to come to their room to talk! Curious to see who had begun the night's turn of events, the concensus was that it would be okay, but only for a short time.
Shortly, there was a knock on the door. Three teenaged guys stood in the doorway--all looking rather worse for wear! It was not a very impressive first meeting. But, when the youngest of the three suggested meeting in the morning in the lower city for breakfast, Cathy and another roommate agreed...
Yuri's Version
Room 6126
Ancaster (Ontario) High and Vocational School had arranged a trip to Montreal and Quebec City for the students to experience a bit of the French Canadian culture and history. As part of the experience, the students were staying at the landmark Chateau Frontenac, that huge beautiful castle-like hotel located on the cliffs overlooking the St. Lawrence River.
One night, near the end of the trip, Yuri noticed a girl reading a book while sitting on a window sill in a room across the courtyard of the hotel. Being a rambunctious teenager with no fear, he started shouting at her to get her attention.
Although she noticed and looked up periodically, she generally ignored him. Remembering that the internal telephone number for each of the the hotel's rooms was composed of the number of the floor preceeding the room number, he began to figure out the extension number for that room.
As he was on the sixth floor and she was two floors below, he knew that the number began with a "4". So, he picked up the phone and started dialling numbers at random. He started to see lights go on in various rooms with each wrong number. Like a video game, he kept substituting advancing numbers until he suddenly saw her get up and leave the window to answer the phone!
Yuri kept Cathy engaged on the phone and chatted for a while. The school had imposed a curfew, but he snuck out with some friends anyway for a visit to her room. Arriving, they chatted a bit more and arranged to meet in the morning for a coffee. There had been only three rules imposed on the students from Ancaster for that trip: no booze, no being out past curfew and no admittance to a female's room. They had managed to break all three rules in one motion!
The Meeting
The place that they had agreed to meet was in a small restaurant in the Lower City near the ferry docks on the bank of the St. Lawrence River. As Cathy's bus was leaving early for the trip home, breakfast had to be quite early! Cathy and her roommate and Yuri and his did meet in that little restaurant. Unlike the previous night, all heads were clear and the conversation was quite pleasant.
Finishing breakfast quickly, they all headed back to the Chateau where Cathy and her roommate gathered together their luggage and struggled downstairs to the awaiting bus. As they waited, Yuri and his roommate joined them for a last chat. Before departing, all four exchanged addresses with the promise to write.
And...write they did! Over the years, Cathy and Yuri exchanged several hundred (approaching a thousand) letters and packages. For fifteen years, punctuated with the occasional visit, this correspondence kept up. Although the writing continued, time and life kept them separated and placed other demands on them. Yuri pursued his goals at the Univesity of Western Ontario while Cathy finished her studies at the University of Massachusetts.
Looking for new challenges, Cathy moved to California where she stayed for five years. When she returned to Massachusetts, she went to visit Yuri before starting a job search. It was at this time that they realized that they were meant to be together.
In 1985, Yuri proposed to Cathy...On October 12th of the following year, they were married.
