To kick off the ‘Engagement Series’, I thought I’d relive the wonderful memories back from when my husband surprised me … I didn’t think it would be so difficult to remember those little details though! Here goes nothing …

I have to give a bit of background information about myself to set the story just right. As some of you may or may not know, I’m a born-and-raised B.C. girl. I grew up in & around Victoria but in my early adult years, I visited Vancouver a lot. So much so that it became a bit of a second home. I think it was because of my complete obsession with the Canucks and going to Blue Rodeo concerts but one never knows for sure. Anyhow, I can’t recall when it was but at some point a family member asked me to housesit for them while they went on vacation. That was my first time absolutely alone in Vancouver and I loved it. I used to take walks around Ladner (where I was staying) and other days I would take the Skytrain into the city. Many days I wound up at Canada Place where I would sit outside and watch the water planes going by while listening to music. It quickly became my favourite spot to get away to.

Fast-forward about ten years.

Somewhere between my days in B.C. and working for a fast-paced company in Toronto, I met a great guy, fell in love and moved in with him – from B.C. to Ontario – within four months of knowing him. I love my mom for being so cool about that but if I have a daughter one day there’s no way in hell I’d let her do what I did. That’s a whole other story though.

While working for this company, I was lucky enough to do a lot of cross-Canada traveling while organizing board meetings and parties … imagine my delight when one of the meetings was going to be in Vancouver. Free trip home … woohoo! Bernard bought a ticket on the same flight and came along with me so we could do some visiting with my mom and younger brother.

The day before my mom and brother came over from Victoria (at least I think it was then … I’m the first to admit I’m horrible with dates) Bernard and I were able to have a bit of free time. I honestly can’t remember what was going on before this (I think I was consumed with work) but we ended up taking a walk from the downtown Fairmount down to the waterfront. Bernard was so sweet as we were walking … he would only let me on the inside of the sidewalk … I thought it was because he was being his usual chivalrous self. I found out later that it was because the ring was in one of his pockets on the left … so I had to stay on the right.