Happy Anniversary Baby, Gotcha On My Mind!

Today my sweet husband and I are celebrating 16 years of marriage. I was looking at our photo album this morning and thought I would share this picture of Long Beach on Vancouver Island where we went to celebrate our 5th anniversary.

This picture is so typical west coast. What was not typical was the weather while we were there. It was 30C! We were walking the beach and getting sunburned at the tail end of October!! It was glorious and one of our favourite memories. Here we thought we would go to this remote location (Tofino) and have the pleasure of witnessing come spectacular storms-howling wind, waves crashing in the cove just beyond our room at the B&B we stayed in, but no. Instead we got to beachcomb to our heart's content and picnic in one of the most beautiful places in the Province while basking in the sun. Too funny!


I was 19 when we married but I knew he was "the one". Here's how I knew:

One day we were in downtown Vancouver, walking down Robson Street to meet a friend of mine for dinner. (Robson Street is this trendy, upscale shopping district in the heart of Vancouver.) Further up the street, coming towards us was this homeless man. He was drunk and weaving badly and accosting people for money. People were cutting a wide swath around him in an attempt to avoid him. We were talking and I kept on walking, nattering away.

Eventually, I realized he wasn't answering me and I stopped. I looked around and he was about 1/2 block behind me, talking to the homeless guy! I watched as he slapped him on the back and asked him how he was doing and then emptied his pockets and gave him all the money he had on him.

It turned out that this homeless guy, Randy, was an old schoolmate of my husband's. I was so impressed that he could show such compassion to Randy who was so down on his luck and treat him with dignity, instead of pretending he didn't know him. It would have been so easy for him to have just walked on by-Randy never would have known it was him, but he didn't. Instead he treated him exactly like he would have any other long-lost friend. I knew in that moment that he was "the one".

Randy died a few years ago-his life had not improved much from that moment when our paths had crossed. One day my husband serendipidously ran into Randy's brother on a job site. (It turns out one of his coworkers was related to Randy's family.) He told the brother the part Randy had played in our lives and we both hoped it helped him to know that even though Randy lead a tough life, he had touched ours in a really positive way. I refer to him as our raggedy angel.

My husband has a huge heart. I married one of the sweetest men ever and I am so blessed to have him in my life. He is a prince among men.