To Love, Honour, and Cherish

Hey Friends!

Since we arrived back at Candle Lake 4 weeks ago, life has been a whirlwind of activity. Time is flying by much too fast, and I'm desperately trying to hang on to these last few weeks and enjoy my friends and family before it's time to head back to the "real world." (Wait a minute...isn't that crazy that a tropical island has become "the real world"?) Wow. Mind is blown. Haha.

My beautiful Baba at the Anniversary party

Today Evan and I are celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary! I remember our wedding day clearly and it's difficult for me to comprehend that it was 11 years ago. I can't even begin to imagine how my Baba and Gido (Ukrainian Grandma and Grandpa) feel, who recently celebrated 70 years of marriage! 70 years! Can you believe that? Now that's a milestone. Our friends and family gathered at my grandparents hometown last weekend and celebrated my Baba and Gido with food, drink, and a fantastic program of music and videos. In the video that was created, my Baba and Gido described their first impressions of each other (Baba: "He pulled at my zipper. I didn't like him very much!" Gido: "Her skirt was very short. That caught my attention"), the proposal (Baba: "We looked through the Eaton's catalogue and picked a ring. It was $35! I told him it was now or never. I had received other proposals you know"), and their wedding day (Gido: "We had to get married on a Sunday because it was the only day that the Priest was in town!"). The video was awesome - the room was filled with laughter and tears. My Baba said something in that video that really resonated with me, "We took our vows seriously. Marriage involves hard work. You must work at it. It seems like in today's age, couples do not take their vows seriously." Anyone who knows me well is aware that this is one of my pet peeves. I start yelling angrily at the TV when a "Four Weddings" bride vows to "always leave you the last chip" or a groom vows to "make you laugh every single day of our lives." That is BS. It might sound romantic and cute to promise these silly little insignificant things during a wedding ceremony; however, let's be honest, there are going to be some tough times. There will be days when your spouse requires a lot more than the "last chip" or "a good laugh."

11 years ago today, Evan vowed to love, honour, and cherish me through good times and bad, in sickness and health and in all circumstances of our life together. In that moment in time, under the hot August sun with the waves lapping on shore, life seemed perfect. We were in love, repeating our vows in front of our friends and family, and embarking on an amazing adventure together. The future was bright! It has been an amazing journey and I can't imagine traveling through life with anyone other than Evan. But…sometimes you have no control over the circumstances of your life together. In 11 years there has been success, failure, heartache, celebration, sadness, anger, happiness, sickness, health, victory, and defeat. There have been days where we didn't particularly like each other, days when we've struggled to communicate, days where we have been filled with sadness, and days where we've been exasperated with our situation. Despite the struggles, in 11 years, I have always felt loved, honoured, and cherished by my husband. Always. It's easy to love each other when we're sipping wine on a white sand Caribbean beach. It's easy to honour each other when we're celebrating professional successes. It's easy to cherish each other when we're snuggled in by the campfire on a beautiful Saskatchewan summer night. Thankfully, Evan continues to love, honour, and cherish me when I require his help to climb the stairs, when I am crying and overwhelmed in the Doctor's office, and when I am throwing my knee brace in frustration (yep. It happened).  Evan loves me when I'm awesome…and Evan loves me when I'm, well…not so awesome. I'm just beginning to realize the power of those vows that we took 11 years ago and we can only aspire to reach a 70 year milestone like my Baba and Gido.

Cheers to my Baba and Gido - Congratulations! It must be an amazing feeling to look around the room at your 70th anniversary party and realize that the two of you created all of this! There is so much love surrounding you! What an accomplishment. I love you both so very much!

Cheers to my Evan. We've created such a wonderful life together! Remember when we were 17 years old and we aspired to one day live in a place with palm trees?  Haha. We did it! I'm so thankful that we found each other 21 years ago in grade 12 Social Studies class. Thanks for being my best buddy. I love you with all of my heart!

Ev is hilarious! Still making me laugh 11 years later

Ev carried me on our wedding day, even with  2 good knees!

My Baba and Gido - Happy 70th Anniversary!

PS: Good Morning Lisa Wallin ;)