I am here, curled up little dog on my lap, doing the online stuff while my hubby, of 10 years as of 11:15 a.m. this morning, sleeps.

He works at night, I work during the day , and we overlap for our regular lunch dates, and supper. For those who don't know we are also both self-employed, running our respective businesses from our cozy 1 bedroom apartment.

It was a wonderfully warm -5 degrees celsius on February 21st 1998. It was the final Saturday of Winterlude and there were only a few of the solid ice sculptures left standing when we said our vows outside with about 45 family and friends in attendance. We planned on having our very short ceremony all wrapped up before the Chilean band started their show on the stage at the the other end of the park, but waiting for some of our guests delayed things just enough to have the band and the ceremony start at the same time!

Tom's sister and my sister graciously read two passages that we each contributed to express how we felt about our relationship and planned lives together. We still have the entire ceremony in the binder that was used that day. I took the cards we received, and created a collage/book cover that is decorating the binder now. The plastic adhesive did cause some of the ink to run, but the essence of the blessings we received from our friends and family is still there.

After a brief, but meaningful - for us at least- ceremony, we had pictures taken outside then sent everyone off to Dubarry's for chinese buffet. The final pictures taken show the hunger in my eyes as we are in the restaurant and dying of hunger! We will always be grateful to Penny, for taking such fabulous pictures for us that day!

Lunch was wonderful, and Tom's Dad kindly gave one unexpected toast, welcoming me into the family. Cinnamon hearts, and a raspberry chocolate cake that I made the day before were the only fare that we brought, and Sherrie, my maid of honour, and I created the bouquets and boutonnieres with flowers from Loblaws the night before.

After lunch, we headed over to the pool hall along the strip mall - very classy!
We got comfy and played pool for a few hours before everyone headed off in their respective directions! It was very relaxing and a fun way to spend the afternoon.

A few of our friends were able to join us at our apartment at the time, number 1 of this building, about half the size of what we are in now, and we decided to go ahead and do the gift opening - even though we had asked for no gifts! But we kept them anyway <grin> and funnily enough there was also a pile of Christmas gifts that came from the Leroux gathering that we had missed that previous December!

My brother Joe was staying at a nearby hotel, so we called to see what he was doing for supper, and our gaggle of friends joined us and him at what was then "Biggs" at the base of the Journeys End on King Edward. A memorable meal was had by all :-)

After that, we went to see the fireworks as it was the final night of Winterlude and they did that back then!

Twas nice.

10 years later, we are still happy, grateful, and thankful of each other, our friends, our families, and our choices that have brought us here.
<sigh>
I love ya Tom...