Written by Wayne...

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, there was a fair maiden trapped high in a castle by a ferocious dragon (ogre?). Along came this brave handsome knight on his trusty white steed ……..well maybe not quite like that. She was pretty fair and he was awfully handsome but it wasn’t that far away and his white steed was probably a Dodge Ram. There WAS a lot of wierd magic going on.

Truth is…it was Christmas 2008, at church, and Lynda handed me a copy of the local newspaper that had my daughter’s letter to Santa in it. She wanted to make sure we had a copy of it. A couple days later she invited me and the kids to go sledding by the old high school. We went and had a blast.

Now the magic. We’d had a lot of laughs that night and I got an email after (no texting or facebook back then) seeing if I want to meet for coffee. Wait! What? I knew what this meant. A first date. I hadn’t had one in like 15 years.

I had been widowed for just over a year. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to date or see Lynda. She was amazing…but…I looked up at the ceiling “Seriously God?!? I got three kids, she’s got three kids. This is the freakin’ Brady bunch!! No chance!!”

From the ceiling, “Relax, trust me, I got this.” I went on the date. It was great. She was awesome. We became very very close very very fast. Maybe God knows what he’s doing after all.

We were constantly talking and finding ways to spend time together. You know what it’s like when you first meet that ‘someone’. However…there were six other factors in the equation (that’s math talk..sorry)…our kids. Both of us were very attached to our children. They always came first. Dance, hockey, church and school consumed our lives. Steph was 7, Morgan 8, Torr and Brys 11, Bran 12 and Brooke 13. Lynda had her place and I had mine. Our kids were/ are so important. Their happiness and well being trumped ours and putting their six very different personalities in one house wasn’t going to work for any of us. They had to grow up on their own terms, not ours. They did…well kinda. You guys can judge that.

We did have great times tho. The boat and tubing on Lake Huron, dance competitions, hockey tournaments, birthday parties, white water rafting in Ottawa…you know…doing life together.

Lynda and I were close. I know people thought it strange. Two houses. Me with my company. Her working different jobs. Six kids. So many balls in the air, constantly juggling….but God was good to His word…He had us and we had each other to lean on.

…..and the kids were growing….

Skip ahead to November 2024 in Hawaii (more math people…that’s 16 years. Six-teen-years) and it’s time. I had talked to the kids and had bought a ring. Lynda and I were just about to board a cruise ship for a week. I was nervous. The kids were at home waiting for the news. We had already been in Hawaii a week and nothing was going to plan at all. It was a mess. Those bachelor shows are all lies. That evening on the boat I found a dark, quiet area of the deck as we left Honolulu and dropped to a knee. She said yes.

If you are reading this you are an important part of our story. While we believe our faith carried us thru a lot of difficult times together we also know He used a lot of you to help. You never really know much the small things you do or say matter to other people but they do. You guys are awesome. We have great friends.

Thankyou

Lynda and Wayne