My name is Linda La-Patience. I'm a young woman of French-Canadian descent living in the City of Ottawa, Province of Ontario. I was born in the town of Montreal, Quebec, but Ontario has been my home for a long time. I stand five-foot-seven, slender and wiry, with long Black hair, alabaster skin and pale green eyes. How I met my husband is one for the ages. I met him at a very difficult time in my life. After the death of my parents, I became self-destructive. Somehow, I ended up in a mental hospital. A place where I endured endless torment at the hands of abusive, misanthropic nurses. It's also where I met Christopher Stephens, the young man who would come to mean so much to me. He was working as a security guard at the hospital's mental ward at the time.
My days were dreary and dull, filled with my encounters with the Ontario healthcare system's worst people. I think a lot of women and men get into nursing for the money and not because it's their true avocation. As a result, many of them are chronically bored or apathetic, and really don't give a damn about their patients. At one of Ottawa's supposedly world class hospitals, I ended up in the care of some very mean ladies. I'm not going to lie, I was a difficult patient. I liked to curse, and I was feisty as hell. I don't believe in backing down before anyone. I'm a Montreal woman for crying out loud, though I spent most of my life in the Province of Ontario. The nurses found me to be a handful. Especially since I spoke up for other patients when they got mistreated.
One day, someone new walked into the ward. Someone who was destined to change things. Christopher Stephens. Picture this, if you will. A six-foot-one, slightly chubby but still handsome young man with dark brown skin, wavy Black hair and dopey-sweet brown eyes. My Christopher. He looked really good in his security uniform. Out of all the guards who get assigned to the hospital's mental ward, he was the most human. He was always polite and friendly. And he seemed genuinely nice to everybody. A lot of the guards are either eager brutes who love wrestling down patients whenever the nurses tell them to keep us in line, or they're terrified of us because we're mental patients and all. Well, Christopher wasn't like that. He didn't fit into either category. The guy actually acted like a voice of reason between frustrated patients and angry nurses. And nine times out of ten, he got results. I found that fascinating about him. He wasn't just muscle. The guy had mind, and heart.
One day, our eyes met and although he tried to hide it, I knew I caught his attention. Christopher got assigned to the mental ward nearly every night, and sometimes we would talk. He told me he was studying Law at Carleton University. He had an accent I couldn't place, and I soon figured out why. Christopher Stephens was American, not Canadian. He'd been living in Ontario for a couple of years but he was raised in Boston, Massachusetts. His father is African-American but his mother came from the Caribbean island of Haiti. He considered himself Haitian-American. I found that really cool. It's not like I never met Americans before but I had no idea there were Black American students studying in Canada. Christopher told me that with the economy in the crapper in his hometown of Boston, his parents decided to send him to study abroad. He had an uncle and aunt living in the town of Orleans, Ontario. It was decided that he would stay with them while studying at Carleton University.
I found myself fascinated by this young Black American man. He was nothing like I imagined a Black American guy would be like. No, I'm not racist and I don't believe in stereotypes. However, media images to influence our views. I never saw a Black American guy on television who wasn't loud, outspoken and assertive. Christopher was shy and easygoing rather than loud and bossy. Wow. I really got to get out more, eh? Christopher and I were really getting along. A shame about the circumstances in which we met because I found him really cute. I like big guys who are really shy and gentle. They're like big teddy bears. That's what Christopher seemed like to me. A big teddy bear. He was cute and brown and everything! I found him really easy to talk to. He was a great listener who never pressured you. The nurses didn't like it when we talked but he ignored them. Much to my delight.
