Curtis and I met at the end of November, 2014 at a Rebels game, thanks to mutual friends.  Neither of us were looking for a relationship but we all know how that ended up! Our first date Curtis asked me to come watch him play hockey on his beer league team. We went to Tim Horton’s first and got to know each other a little more face to face then went to the arena where the team was playing. The entire game we made eyes at each other, I know I had the whole zoo in my tummy that night.  It was a late night as their team gets the last slot of the day, but speaking for myself when he dropped me off, I didn’t want to get out of his truck. The next few weeks went the same way, hanging out here and there and watching Curtis play hockey. Then over the holiday season there was a small lack in effort but somehow we came back together in the new year.

Finally come February 15, 2015 Curtis accepted that I wasn’t going anywhere and asked me to be his girlfriend. We moved in together January 1st the following year. Not to say the past 3 and a half years have been easy, we have had plenty of ups and downs but we always seem to come out the other side stronger. We also have no idea how we didn’t meet sooner having gone to the same schools and me having been friends with some of his friends sisters. We figure we met when we were meant to meet. It wouldn’t have worked if we met earlier.

Throughout our time together we believe we have made each other better people, Curtis has made me more adventurous and I’ve made him into more of a home body. We have gone on many camping trips, adventures to the mountains, fishing excursions to remote locations, collected interesting rocks, went skydiving (something I thought I’d never do), watched many episodes of Friends, countless backyard fires, some NHL games and concerts and many couch forts. We have supported each other through schooling, career changes, injuries, health scares and general ups and downs.

Curtis proposed to me March 21, 2018 after convincing me I had to wait 5 years. I bugged him I’d put a ring on it before he would. He was working up north and orchestrated the whole plan without me having any idea. He spoke with both my parents, wrote his speech and picked the ring on his own. He looked into cabins in the rocky mountains and told me to choose to go during the week or the weekend. I chose during the week, the day after he got home. He told me he had a dentist appointment first thing in the morning, if I could drop the dog off at my parents while he did that we could meet at home and head out. Then that day he also decided to stop at his parents for mail first. This trip being his treat for us working hard on his company and some time to just spend together and relax. He told me he had a dream of us reading by a wood burning stove, which looked just like the cabin he had picked. We spent the day at Abraham lake climbing around, laughing and me playing with my camera. We checked into the cabin, Curtis tied flies and taught me how to tie one, my first (not my forte but we’ve now kept it as a cherished keepsake from this moment). Then Curtis made an amazing steak dinner (he always makes the best steak dinners) and I sat by the fire working on a puzzle book. He wouldn’t sit still and relax like he told me was the plan, I learnt soon after why that was. Curtis asked me if he had sweatpants, which I replied “I have no idea what you packed”. Sometime in this back and forth he started playing a song by Shakey Graves called “Daisy Chains” and lit a couple candles. He went upstairs in the cabin and came back down and said he was going to shower.  First, he came up to me and asked me to stand up and give him a hug, after taking my hands and his hands were shaking which was really weird and his voice was cracking. He proceeded to tell me how much I meant to him and that he was lucky my parents allowed him to “do this”, got down on one knee and asked me to make him the happiest Curtis and agree to marry him. I was in complete shock as I really thought I had to wait the next 2 years for this to happen and said yes, of course. I was so surprised looking back now it seems like it all happened to quickly. We cracked a bottle of sparkling juice outside the cabin and enjoyed glasses while calling our parents and close friends to tell them the news.

The next morning we woke up to the most enchanting snowfall, Curtis made the most amazing eggs benedict and we enjoyed some relaxation time by the fire and contacted the rest of our family members. Once we checked out we went to Cresent Falls, tobogganed down the hill to the falls in the snow, laughed the whole time then drove home. Hind sight, he never went to the dentist, he went to tell his parents that he was proposing that night and went and got the ring. Now I can never believe him when he tells me he has a dentist appointment!