Prologue
I've always been a romantic. A class A believer in fairy tales since the early days. As a toddler growing up in Canada, I moulded myself into what I thought was a perfect little girl. Made up of course of sugar, spice, and everything nice. My romantic background started at the tender age of five, where I had my first boyfriend in Nursery school. Yes, the good old days where all the other children referred to you and your male play mate as an item; just like the Barbie and Ken dolls. I learned at a young age that having a boyfriend came with perks: extra turns on the monkey bars, a bite of his cookie, all the rest.
My first kiss followed in first grade; to a boy named Zachary. During class my girlfriends and I discussed where we'd hold the wedding. Naturally, we chose the small grove of pine trees in the back corner of the school yard. I was happily wed, and my "husband" and I even sealed the deal in front of our small First grade audience with an innocent peck.
Upon playing dolls with my playmates in the years that followed, I assumed the role of the troubled young lady; awaiting her prince charming to sweep her off her feet.
And I'm sure my looks helped a lot too. I was a good looking kid with long silky hair the color of dark coffee. My eyes were clear green, like two perfect marbles pressed symmetrically into milky white almond shaped pools. My lips were perfectly shaped, with a natural smile playing in the corners. And my cheeks had a natural flirty flush. My striking resemblance to Liv Tyler assured that I was the cream of the crop all through Elementary school, where boys followed me through the school yard. I didn't carry cooties like many of the other girls in over-alls and pigtails.
Junior High followed, where I briefly appeared on the Grade Seven market before finding myself holding hands with the cutest Grade Seven-er in school: Mathew Harvey.
In High school, I found myself in competition with prettier girls, but my ever-slim figure, growing resemblance to Liv Tyler and ability to make a turtle neck look sexy kept me in the popular A group. I managed to keep a steady relationship with my first love: Charlie. And it was him that introduced me to an even greater love, photography. We met in the school's mixed media class, where we quickly bonded over an undying interest for lenses, aperture settings, shutter speeds. Charlie took me to concerts, to dinners with his family, even on small trips. He was the first boy I'd slept with, and I didn't regret a second of it. But we broke up after High school graduation; he moving on to the United States to study law in Virginia, and I to the University of Alberta, enrolling in General studies.
I stayed sober through University, and studied earnestly and practiced photography, awaiting the day my prince charming came to find me. I thought that was the case when I met Roger; an easy going student with dark hair and expressive eyebrows. It was from I learned that the U of A had a campus in Cortona, Italy. How Romantic I'd thought. So I swiftly enrolled to follow Roger to the heart of Tuscany. And that's how it all began...