Quebec Women Totally Rock!

My name is Stephen LaCroix. A big and tall young Black American man of Haitian descent living in the City of Ottawa, Province of Ontario. I attend the University of Ottawa, where I'm taking up Criminology. Next year I will graduate with my bachelor's degree. I have been in the Confederation of Canada for about three years now. Long enough to become a permanent resident. I didn't like the City of Ottawa when I first came here, to tell you the truth. I found the City of Ottawa quiet, boring and bigoted. A far cry from my native town of Boston, Massachusetts. This Haitian-American sorely missed his homeland for his first twelve months in Ottawa. However, my life has changed since then. I found a home here, and someone to love.

I guess I've gone from arrogant American who hates everything Canadian to well-adjusted resident of one of the world's most interesting countries. And a lot of that has to do with a special lady. Darlene Saint-Guillaume. This five-foot-eleven, red-haired and green-eyed, delightfully curvy and deliciously big-bottomed French Canadian woman simply changed my life. Darlene was born and raised in the City of Montreal, Province of Quebec. She calls herself a proud Quebecer. Interestingly, Quebecers are the group I clashed with the most during my first year in Ottawa. They're proud, arrogant and overconfident. Very set in their ways. Very much like us Americans. Who would have thought the only one who would accept me in Canada would be a Quebec woman? I guess life can certainly surprise all of us.

You might think you know who you are, who you want to be with and where life will take you but you can still be surprised. Trust me on that one. I was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. I never thought I'd move to Canada of all places. And I certainly didn't plan on being forever changed by my stay in this fascinating, infuriating and amazing country. It's also the place where I met my future wife, folks. The woman who literally changed my world and how I looked at things. Yeah, life can certainly surprise you. Men and women of the world, all I can tell you is to go with the flow.

I first met Darlene while walking around Saint Laurent Mall in downtown Ottawa. I was walking around with my cousin Miguel, and I told him that a Quebecer I knew at work was a real douche bag. This fine-looking white lady happened to be walking by and she walked right up to us. She was really mad. I guess it's because she was a native of Quebec too. In a firm voice, she told me exactly where I could stuff my anti-Quebec sentiments. I told her to mind her own business. Scoffing, she walked away. Man, talk about a bad meeting! Still, I couldn't forget the angry lady from Quebec. For starters, she was so tall, curvy and sexy. White women in Canada, especially the French ones, look very different from the ones we have in America. White women from Quebec have curvy bodies and big butts. They're not flat and skinny like ninety nine percent of white females worldwide. I don't know what they're feeding these white women in Canada, especially the French ones, but it's working!

I couldn't get the arrogant, sexy white lady from Quebec out of my head. Imagine my surprise when I ran into her at the Carleton University campus library a few weeks later. I was borrowing a textbook which I couldn't afford because I'm a broke Black man and they charge us international students outrageous fees every semester. Almost double what they charge Canadian students. If that's not highway robbery, I don't know what is! I approached her cautiously. When she saw me, anger flashed in her eyes and she stiffened. Clearly she hadn't forgotten me or what I said. I held my hands up, and told her that I came in peace. The gorgeous Quebecer hesitated. I did something I had never done before. I apologized, and actually meant it. She looked into my eyes, no doubt searching for any sign of deceit. She must have liked what she saw, for she accepted my apology.

And that's how it all began, folks. I made friends with a tall, bossy and absolutely sexy white lady from the Province of Quebec. And my friendship with Darlene Saint-Guillaume changed me. Darlene became my constant companion as I navigated through life in the City of Ottawa. She showed me different sides of life in Canada. And she surprised me with her knowledge about us Haitians. According to Darlene, there were hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in a City called Montreal in the Province of Quebec. I only knew two places in Canada, Ottawa and Toronto, both of them located in the Province of Ontario. I have never been to Montreal. One day, Darlene picked me up at the University of Ottawa and drove me to Montreal. It took us three hours but we finally made it to what she called Montreal-Nord, home of the largest Haitian community in all of Canada.

It's in Montreal-Nord that I experienced a personal and cultural awakening. Darlene introduced me to her friends, most of whom were Haitian men and Haitian women. We went to Haitian restaurants. My gorgeous Quebecer knew a lot about Montreal's Haitian community. She got her hair done at a Haitian-owned ladies hair salon and dined at Haitian restaurants. Her best friend Elsie Claudine is a Haitian lady she's known ever since her high school days. And she's the godmother of Elsie's son Mitchell. Hell, it was Darlene who introduced Elsie to her future husband Jean-Baptiste, a Haitian guy from the Quebec town of Neuville. Man, I was absolutely amazed. Darlene was truly extraordinary. Did I mention that she spoke Haitian Creole more fluently than I did? Amazing!

I don't know when exactly I fell in love with Darlene Saint-Guillaume and I don't care. All I know is that I loved her. More than I've ever loved anyone before. When I asked her out, she surprised the hell out of me by accepting. We began dating pretty seriously. And at the close of 2010, after two years of intense courtship, I asked her to marry me. My gorgeous Quebecer said yes. We plan on getting married in 2011. In the summer of 2011, I will graduate from the University of Ottawa with my bachelor's degree in Criminology. And Darlene will obtain her bachelor's degree in business administration from Carleton University. Before we get hitched, I will take her to Boston to meet my family. I have very reason to believe they will love her as much as I do. She is simply amazing. Quebec women rock!