Happy Canada Day!

Today was also the day we chose to celebrate our anniversary. Our kiddos were all with their other parent(s) this weekend, so we had some time to ourselves. On our real anniversary (the 27th) we had work, school, soccer etc. so we decided to wait until we had some time to really spend with each other.

We have a bit of an unspoken (actually, it is a very spoken rule) that we really don’t spend money on gifts for each other. We love to travel, so most of our “gifts” come in the form of travelling with each other. So, we often make each other things. I’m especially lucky because Rob is super duper talented in creativity and art.

This year was no different. No gifts.

To also preface this story, I need to give some background on our wedding. I did give a bit of a background in a previous post about our wedding and how it came to pass. Some additional info that helps this story along is the fact that there was A LOT going on in our lives when we did decide to get married. We had a very romantic courtship, and knew we were meant for each other and knew we wanted to be married. But we also had 5 kids to try to bring together happily, two houses to sell (and deal with all the “stuff” in them both), one house to buy (big enough for everyone, in a good neighborhood, within the restrictions of separation agreements), deal with changing schools, and deal with all the obstacles and barriers that were put in our way due to circumstances surrounding divorces in both our lives…. Most people also aren’t “receptive” to second marriages either (something along the lines of they aren’t very important) – so I have to say with the exception of a few family members and very close friends, we had a pretty “indifferent” reception about getting married. All this to say, getting engaged with a sappy engagement story, buying rings, and planning a lavish wedding fell low on our priority list.

We had a beautiful wedding in Sweden, then had a beautiful ring ceremony and family ceremony and reception in Montreal, and a wonderful family honeymoon in Jamaica. But everything was quite simple.

So, on this, our 3rd Anniversary, I guess Rob decided to fill in some blanks of things that fell by the wayside….

I woke up this morning feeling particularly groggy. Normally I am up and raring to go (ok, sometimes I’m raring), and I was planning on going for a run. But Rob was up first and I felt like I hadn’t slept all night, so I slept in a bit. He came in a few minutes later and he had showered and told me he was going to the bank (that in itself is weird – we only go to the bank for very specific reasons – we are both forever cashless!). I mumbled ok, and he left. I figured I might as well get up then since I knew he was already to get our day started as soon as he got back…

I made my way to the bathroom and with my very blurry eyes (I’m completely blind without contacts) and squinted and saw this:

I opened it up and read the clue, and admired my husband’s amazing artistic talent (a picture of me and Andrea (bridesmaid) at our wedding), and knew he was sending me to her house. Apparently, I was on the Amazing Race (one of my favorite shows)!

I quickly got ready and set off to go.

In Andrea’s mailbox, I found this:

This note, directed me to a spot that was quite meaningful to us early on in our relationship: a bench where we had taken a break after a long bike ride and shared some stories about my Dad, and his brother, who had both passed away.

I arrived at the bench to a older woman smiling and staring at me.
I think she was quite amused!

Taped under the bench was another clue directing me to the bakery/cafe where we had our first date! I was to ask for Andrew to get my next clue.

I stood in line and ordered a brioche as requested, and got my final clue. Andrew was a true sport and stretched out his arms to give me the clue the same way they do in the Amazing Race! They were all laughing and smiling and wished me luck.

The final clue had no hints, just a picture, but I knew exactly where it was: our favorite picnic spot on Cherry Beach.

When I arrived, I saw Rob in the distance, standing at the “Pit Stop”.

He hurried me in to check in as the 1st place winner! Then he got down on his knee, held out a little silver bell shaped box and told me a whole bunch of stuff including how he didn’t quite do it the way he wanted a few years ago, so wanted to do it now, and asked me to marry him all over again…then he gave me this:

I was shocked, surprised, tearful, happy and loved every minute of it. What an incredible anniversary gift and experience!

We then had a little picnic and enjoyed the rest of the beautiful day out on our boat – where we read, ate and napped.

It as an amazing day. With an amazing man. (And I got to do the Amazing Race!!!).