It was Valentine's Day 1976, a Saturday, when Elsie and I, along with our friends Randy and Sheila, stood on the ice, on top of snow banks on Lake Ontario. We were watching a vintage hockey game between the Royal Military College and Queen's University, re-enacting the beginnings of a sport which we love. We drank hot chocolate and ate chilli from paper bowls to keep warm, and when the game was over, we went to a pancake house and enjoyed cheese blintzes with blueberries.

The next morning, Elsie went into labour, and we welcomed Christopher Ronald Routly into the world - all 8 lb. 11 ounces of him, our second son, and a little brother for David.