celebrating 17 years

if you had told these two 17 years ago that they'd end up legally married, living in vancouver, with two beautiful children, they very well would have laughed their heads off and probably would have made to move as far away from each other as possible.

yep. that's some sort of food stain on the photo.
taken 17 years ago on our grade 13 retreat.

they were only 19 and 18 after all. gay marriage was far from legal in canada. and being together would have meant many years of tearing down belief systems, building them up again, and then fighting to stay together. and how in the world would they manage to make babies?


thankfully, these girls didn't know what they were doing. they were just two crazy kids who happened to fall in love. in the closet. out of the closet. then defiantly out of the closet. and then gay marriage was legalized. there was as a lucky opportunity to move to vancouver... 


and here we are.

when we were in high school, we learned that the text book definition of love (from our religion class as taught to us by sister power) is "to seek and to foster the good of others in the context of concrete situations."


marriage is hard, hard work. 17 years later, there have been loads of "concrete situations." we continue to work hard to stay connected amid the chaos of work and family life. we try to remember to laugh through the unexpected. we try to take turns being "it" so the other can have a rest. 


happy anniversary, dear wife. 

i know how lucky i am. thank you. i love you (exactly as taught by sr. power) and i daresay, i remain madly in love, too.


let's work together to celebrate us today, ok? 


p.s.
your anniversary socks are late. i'm about half way done the second sock but have had no opportunity to focus my attention on the heel. but i promise to knit you a new pair every year from this point forward.