Avenue Magazine Edmonton

He wasn't my first kiss or my first boyfriend; my fiance was my first two-step partner. It was an absolute disaster but a good effort for a couple of twelve year olds with crushes on each other and no idea how to dance. My fiance and I went to the same elementary school, and he was best friends with my next door neighbours' son. Both our families owned horses and a year-end gymkhana dance at a local hall is where the embarrassing dance took place. Through the years, I heard from both friends and our neighbours that he had a crush on me, and I remember my friends asking what I would say if he asked me out. I never got the chance to find out! He never asked and at some point during high school he moved away to play hockey. We got in touch again in the most unromantic way possible - Facebook, of course. He sent me a message asking if I remembered him (of course I did) and thanking me for teaching him to two-step ("we were horrible" was my exact response). And this is where "the rest is history" comes in. Facebook messages turned into long distance phone calls, which turned into visits. The night of our first date, I was so excited. And late. And then I fell asleep in the theatre (I blamed all our late night phone calls). But, in between we had an amazing dinner where I didn't notice a single thing going on around me except for us. From the beginning, we had so much fun together. On his second visit, a snowboarding day trip in Jasper turned into two extra days in Banff, a day at the Calgary Zoo and rushing home just in time to celebrate New Year's at his mom's. It doesn't sound too crazy, but having only one pair of clothes for the whole trip would have caused me to absolutely panic if I hadn't been so preoccupied with being incredibly happy. Eventually, these visits turned into moving in together, getting a puppy and this past June, a surprise visit from him when he was supposed to be working out of town. I came home expecting an empty house, but instead, found him down on one knee proposing. I was so shocked that I'm still not exactly sure what he said to me. Our extravagent evening to follow included staying in so I could visit with our puppy (who he had taken with him the road), ordering take-out, calling our families and watching t.v. The fact that I was completely happy with such a casual celebration is exactly why I am so in love with my fiance. My mom explained it best: After we got engaged, she sent me an email that said "I think he shows you how life can be much simpler than you thought it could be. Sometimes life isn't about how much you have and do but who you get to spend it with." She summed things up perfectly. Along with that, I haven't spent a single minute of our relationship wondering how much he loves me and wants to spend his life with me. I've never met someone so good at expressing his feelings. I'm the exact opposite, so it amazes me, and I'm careful not to take it for granted. To get more to the point, we've had so many great times together that I'm not sure exactly what moment I knew my fiance was the one, but if I had to guess? I think it might of been when he said "I wasn't too shy to ask you out ten years ago, I was just waiting for you to get hotter."