Sandy

His real name was Alexander, but like a true Scot, he called himself Sandy. I had the privilege to meet him during the 1986 during the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.

At that time I was working for the CBC. My job was to act as a vehicle dispatcher and he was one of my drivers.

The Commonwealth Games provided jobs for students like Sandy. A lassie by the name of Justine got a job as a secretary to one of the producers.

When Sandy met Justine, he was immediately smitten. It was pretty obvious. The only problem was that Justine had a boyfriend.

Every Canadian who came in contact with Sandy and knew about his crush on Justine couldn’t understand why she didn’t fancy him.

When they were together, you could see a great admiration for each other. Sandy had the knack of always being able to make Justine laugh. To all of us bystanders it seemed as if they were made for each other.

Something happened one day that made it even more apparent that fate was part of this relationship.

Justine came in one day and propped up a small teddy bear on her desk. She gushed at how her boyfriend had given it to her the night before. She shared this information with everyone, including Sandy. A sly smile appeared on his face.

The next morning, about fifteen teddy bears exactly like the one Justine had received were perched on her desk. They were identical to the one she had received a couple of days before. They were so alike that you couldn’t tell the original from its clones.

Justine came in and just gasped. She had no idea how the bears got there. Later Sandy came in and asked Justine how she liked the teddy bears he had given her.

Later I asked him where he got all the toys. Apparently he had a friend who was in the importing business and he had received a shipment exactly when Sandy needed a large supply of them.

Sandy seemed willing to move the world for Justine. He was a great guy.

I met him a year later. I had a group of senior citizen softball players touring Great Britain, so I got him to lend me his Scottish costume. It fit pretty well except for the shoes, which were too small, but I managed to squeeze my feet into them. Unfortunately, I have no idea where the photo of me in this outfit went. While I must have looked different, Sandy hadn’t changed. He told me that he and Justine were just friends and met occasionally for a drink.

I think of Sandy now and again and I wish the best for him. I can’t help but wonder why Justine was so blind to his kindness and affection. All I can think is that it is her loss, that is, unless she found somebody who cared about her with the depth that Sandy had for her. I trust that she has found somebody who loves her so wonderfully.

Often a love like this comes along only once in a lifetime. It can seem so easy that people often take it for granted and let it slip through their fingers.