Love Turns 40

Sunday marked a very special moment for my parents, as they celebrated 40 years of holy matrimony.
40 years!?
Perhaps best to assume they were young teens when they got married, and leave it at that.
Either way, a truly remarkable and amazing feat.

Their story unfolds like this -

They met each other for the first time on a boat.
Sounds like the plot from a romcom, but it's true.
It was 1967, and both were emigrating from the UK for frostier pastures in Canada.
To this day, my Dad still questions why he didn't choose to fly instead….joking of course.
So there they met, very cordial, very pleasant. They dined together, as a larger group, giving each other a little space, and spent the rest of the time at sea….reading, I suppose.
After arriving into Montreal, they went their own way to Toronto - Mum was starting a nursing position at Toronto General Hospital and Dad a sales job lined up before he left the UK.

Had it been fate that brought them to this land on the same vessel?
Yes, but seems fate needed just a little more time to develop.

They quickly started to adjust individually to Canadian living, enjoying the finer things the country had to offer, like Leaf Stanley Cup parades & centennial festivities - just your average annual events in TO.
Within three months they crossed paths once again. Where this actually happened, I'm not so sure….but the important thing is that it happened. All of a sudden, Toronto became that much more fun, as the pair became really close friends.
As the 60's wound down, the relationship picked up. One night, just after they'd cleaned up the fondue set and wiped down the mahogany, a funny thing happened. There was a look. A different look, like none before it. A sudden move lead to an embrace, an embrace leading to a kiss.
And that was it - the best way to end a perfectly good friendship.

A few years later, on a warm Welsh summer day in August, in the company of their families, friends and the holy spirit, Michael took Margaret, and in rightful turn, Margaret took Michael. The first day, of what has now turned to many, to be spent as husband and wife.
Skip a few years ahead (right past those honeymoon details), and along came a little bundle of joy, followed 3 years later by another little wonder.
2 was now 4, and family was formed.

From one coast to another, they would travel.
From one season to another, they would grow.
From one year to another, they would come, and,
From one year to another they would go.
But through all of it, the thick and thin, the good and the bad, there they were….together.
Just as strong as those first days in a foreign land, an inspiration to what love is all about.
It's with utmost pride and admiration that I congratulate you on this significant milestone.

Happy 40th, M&D.
Keep Making Magic.