A decade ago my husband, Cortney, asked me to be his wife. How we got to this place is a story that I am asked over and over because it is very much one of the “meant to be” stories. The short version is that we grew up in the same small town, went to…
Marriage
Writing Vows
July is here, which means that the year is half-over. I’ve received a few reminders to revisit those New Year’s Resolutions from well-meaninged friends on Twitter and motivational emails in the inbox. “It is half-way through the year! How are those resolutions coming?”. It is an interesting idea, to think about how we’ve bettered ourselves in…
Stepping Up – a Father’s Day Reflection
“We have a rule in our house,” said a female Member of the Nova Scotia Legislative Assembly at an event called Campaign School for Women that I was attending all weekend. “Whichever parent that is not in the middle of an election is what we call the P.I.C. – the Parent In Charge. The P.I.C. makes all the…
What Marriage, Doctor Who, and the Kardashians Have in Common
Some time ago Laura asked me to contribute something to her blog. And like any good husband I procrastinated, delayed, and invented implausible excuses. Years have since passed. Thankfully, Laura is less patient about other requests, otherwise dishes might be stacked to the ceiling, the floor might be covered in cheerios and we would have…
A Foolproof Method of Birth Control
To maintain the utmost discretion, the list below is a compilation of experiences that friends have shared with me, along with some of my own experiences. I have a very hard time remembering past moves. I vaguely remember pulling up to the front of residence in first year university to unload enough stuff to fill…
In His Arms
(Written a few days before we closed on the new house.) There was once a place that I thought was perfect. I’d lay there and know that nothing could touch me. Not stress. Not anger. Not sadness. Not pain. The world disappeared and I was free to just breathe. I remember that place so vividly,…
How To Explain Marriage to a 3 Year Old
I see him looking up at the walls, eyeing those pictures. In that little three-year-old brain of his, he is wondering if those people in the pictures are really his Mommy and Daddy. He is questioning why Mama looks like a princess. He is trying to remember if he was there. Every once in a…
Not Crying Over Spilled Milk
Text message. 10:24pm. Tuesday night. Hi. Any idea when you’ll be home? When I arrived home from work earlier that day, I didn’t automatically run to my bedroom to take off my bra and throw on sweat pants and put my hair in a ponytail, like I normally do. In fact, that morning I had…
Grownup Time? What’s That?
My five year anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks. As such, I have been thinking about finding some alone time with my husband, if even just for a meal. In fact, as this is our fifth wedding anniversary, we were planning to take our first vacation since the honeymoon, kid-free. Alas (or,…
Surviving Your First Christmas: Tips On How To Merge Family Traditions
This Christmas marks my fourth Christmas with Dan. It is Cameron’s third Christmas, and Gavin’s very first Christmas. Most notable, however, is that this year is my family’s very first Christmas on our own. That’s right. For the first time since our lives merged, we need to fuse our traditions. When I was dating, I…
A Marriage Divided
He was a student of politics. I was a young girl just entering adulthood. I was still forming my opinions, still understanding how the political system worked. Together we’d watch elections, we’d discuss policy. And when we said “I do”, I firmly believed that we were on the same page politically. I kind of liked…
