I would say "Yes" all over again!

I still have a few more stories that I want to share for Marriage Mondays...

My husband turned 50 this summer and got a very unique gift from his siblings. They made this album for him with lots of pictures of him over the years. But they also spent some time reminiscing (and laughing) about the things their older brother used to do - they called them "Mike-isms." They were things like do a running dive off the wharf, sing and dance to Rock Lobster, eat a Fun Dip, read an Archie comic in the outhouse, tap the steering wheel while listening to Talking Heads, and go for a swim in a wetsuit.

 

He did manage to get the wetsuit on...

In the end they had a list of 50 things for him to do in celebration of this occasion. They clearly know Mike very well because he is "The List Man." He loves lists! He always wants to read all the books on Entertainment Weekly's list of best books of the year. He has lists of his comic book collection, favourite golf courses, movies to watch, books he's read, etc. They challenged him to complete this list of 50 tasks while we were on our three-week summer vacation in our home province.

One of the things he was supposed to do was "re-enact your engagement." So we let our twelve-year-old twins stay up a little past their bedtimes and took them out on the wharf to show them the super-moon and let them hear the story of our engagement, 22 years later.

We had just arrived at my in-laws' cottage where we visited every summer. We had been up half the night doing laundry and packing before our flight. Mike had been acting really weird all day, but I just passed it off as stress from the travel. Even though it was late he asked me to come down on the wharf. I said I was tired - I think I was flossing my teeth. But he persisted, and I accompanied him down to the wharf.

It was a clear night and I commented on how wonderful it was because you could see so many stars. Then Mike said, "It's the perfect night to ask you to marry me." I got so excited I was jumping up and down saying, "This is so perfect! It's our favourite place in the whole wide world! What a beautiful night to get engaged!" I rambled on excitedly until Mike said, "So will you?" I hadn't realized I'd neglected to answer his question! So I said, "Of course I will!" [Our twins thought that was hilarious!]

We laid down on the wharf for a while soaking up the memory before going back up to the cottage. When we got inside I showed Mike's mother Dede the engagement ring. Mike's father was asleep on the couch, or "just resting his eyes," as he would usually claim, so Dede said, "Dick, wake up! Mike and Sheila got engaged!" Dick lifted his head and mumbled something, but the next morning he was very surprised to hear the news of our engagement.

The ring cluster charm and my engagement ring

 

Gift from the Sea bracelet

 

I have two shooting star spacers on my "Gift from the Sea" bracelet to represent my love for the summer sky. We live in the city and we can't see many stars at night, so it's extra special to be at the cottage, over the water, at the end of the wharf, and see the stars. The spacers were also meant to represent our engagement under the night sky, but now I have the ring cluster charm to represent this "unforgettable moment" of re-enacting our engagement, witnessed by our kids. Although that blue "night sky" charm would look very nice on the double blue leather bracelet I'm getting for my birthday...

 

Mike and I twenty-two years after he proposed to me on this wharf (well an older version of this wharf)
I didn't realize how tall our twelve-year-old twins were getting!