‘A memoir of love and fate:’ Maritime couple details their epic love story

A Maritime couple puts their love story on paper in their book The Illogical Adventure.

For James MacDuff and Mirriam Mweemba, the life they live now, on the shores of Cole Harbour, N.S., is more than they could have ever imagined.

Their unique love story began in 2018 on a warm night in Cape town, South Africa.

“On the last night that I was there, I was in a bar and someone else was there as well,” MacDuff says glaring at his wife.

“It didn’t click in my mind that (he was) someone I would date or let alone be my husband in the future,” says Mweemba.

But that quickly changed, as the pair would reunite around the world.

“I went to Zambia to get my visa, and I traveled to Italy. We kept in touch, and at some point, we managed to meet up in Venice,” says Mweemba.

Mweemba, who studies massage therapy is originally from Zambia, and MacDuff is a lawyer and life-long Maritimer.

Despite the distance and cultural differences, the couple kept their spark alive, meeting up from coast to coast, including in Barcelona, Switzerland, Mombasa, as well as in Zambia.

But things took an uncertain turn in 2020, during the global pandemic.

“I was lockdown in Moncton living with my parents, and Miriam was over in Zambia on lockdown, and we were separated. We were supposed to have met in March of 2020 in Johannesburg, and we were frantically trying to figure out if we would ever meet again,” says MacDuff.

“What would the world look like? What were the restrictions, what are the risks?”

But he says they managed to meet in Tanzania, one of the only places without restrictions at the time.

There, the two tied the knot.

Nowadays, their hands are full with their two toddlers, Anderson and Jack.

But parents and star-crossed lovers aren’t the only titles they hold.

Their recently completed book titled “The Illogical Adventure” officially made them authors.

“The book tells the story of us trying to meet while we’re on different continents and over different times and then managing through the Covid pandemic and everything. It’s a memoir of love and fate,” says MacDuff.

A project that much like their love story, withstood its own risks, challenges and delays.

But they both agree it was worth it in the end.

“We faced a lot of challenges. We went through a lot. And it’s a beautiful story, you know, with James growing up here (and) ...my background is totally different,” says Mweemba. “I looked at everything, the whole story, what we went through. And I thought it would be nice to share something as beautiful as our story.”

“As someone who was kind of a lifelong bachelor, to be now in this big family relationship, it’s something I never really dreamed of,” says MacDuff.

Through it all, they’ve learned an important lesson about love and life.

“Take a chance. If you think something feels right…especially when it comes to love, but also career or otherwise… nothing is impossible,” says MacDuff.

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