He misses her cooking, especially her cheesy baked cauliflower.
It’s been about a year and a half since Paul Martin, 68, a Richford native who never moved anywhere else, has seen his Canadian fiancee, Christine Maurice.
She lives less than 10 miles away in Sutton, Quebec. The last time the couple was together was on a trip to Florida. Just after they got back, the border was closed.
But land crossings reopened last week to fully vaccinated Americans — who also get a negative result from an approved type of Covid-19 test — and Martin said he’s hoping to cross the border as soon as possible to surprise Maurice with a visit.
“I haven’t told her I’m coming,” he said. (For the record, a VTDigger reporter asked if publishing this story would ruin the surprise — he said it was OK.)
Some travelers have found the Canadian government’s latest border guidance to be confusing. Martin tried to drive into Canada for the first time Thursday afternoon, but said he was turned away because the test he got wasn’t approved for entry.
The Canadian government is accepting results from molecular tests such as those known as PCR, or polymerase chain reaction. Antigen tests are not accepted.
Long wait times were reported at border stations across the country this week, though the number of people crossing was generally not as high as expected.
While the border was closed, Martin said, he and Maurice would often FaceTime each other four times a day. It’s better than talking on the phone, he said, but “not the same as having somebody here and doing things together.”
Something the couple has always done together is travel.
In Martin’s white van, which he converted into a camper with a bed and solar-powered utilities, they have made a 12,000-mile round trip between Vermont and Alaska twice. They’ve also driven out to Arizona and along the coast of Oregon, he said.
The camper’s small refrigerator is covered in magnets from places they have visited together. Martin spent time this week cleaning the van to get ready for his visit.
Before the border was shut down, either he or Maurice would cross over once, sometimes twice a week to see each other.
“She has her place. I have my place,” Martin said. “We’ve never really discussed getting married. It seems to work.”
Both are retired — Maurice used to work at a local hospital and now volunteers with the Catholic Church. Martin spent some 40 years at a Richford animal feed supplier, and he has worked at the town’s fire department in some capacity since 1969.
The couple met at a festival in Canada that Martin attended through the fire department.
“I have been chief a couple times,” he said, chuckling.
These days, Martin is assistant fire chief and takes on odd jobs around Richford. He keeps the town clock. He picks up trash on Main Street. He painted the door of the town’s historical society, and needs to fix the windows at some point, too.
Martin said he can hardly wait to see his fiancee again, but unless he actually makes it into Canada, he’s trying not to get too worked up.
“Until I actually step foot on the other side…” he said, trailing off. “We’ll see.”
