Timing is everything they say. While it’s a cliche, it can be so brutally true that you get smacked across the face with reality.
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As I mentioned last week, it was 14 years ago that I went on a Guiding trip that allowed me to stay at two of the four World Centres of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS).
Stacey and I posing at Stonehenge, Aug. 1999
Even though we were in the United Kingdom (and primarily London) for barely three days, we did manage to get a lot done. We saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace (which by the way was amazing to see up close and behind the gates!), we saw the musical Rent!, ran around London seeing lots of regular touristy things like London Bridge, Big Ben, etc.
We also made a special trip to Stonehenge.
I have to say, it was amazing and I’m so glad we went there! It’s definitely a big tourist attraction for the area and rightfully so. The entire area has a different feel and you can sense the history; the land simply breathes it. To see it in person was fantastic and I hope to go there again someday with Matt (and kids too if we make it a family trip).
I can’t believe that it was over seven years ago that Matt asked me to spend the rest of my life with him.
BBQing in the rain
It was Canada Day weekend in 2006. We were at our friend Christina’s family cottage as per usual. It’s located in Tiny Township near Midland, Ontario. The cottage is super nice and the beach is full of soft sand and water that’s often the perfect warmish/coolish temperature during a hot Ontario summer day.
Sneaking a kiss, but obviously getting caught.
I wondered if something was up with Matt when he was determined to get fireworks while we were at the IGA supermarket that Friday night at the cottage. It seemed odd that he was so insistent, but I chalked it up to his enthusiasm for a good weekend.
Originally, his plan was to set off some fireworks and then propose under the lit up sky. But Mother Nature had other plans because it was far too windy and there was threats of rain throughout the weekend.
His backup plan? He asked me to go for a walk; just the two of us.
I remember us walking, but I can’t for the life of me recall anything that we discussed because I was in total shock when he suddenly got down on one knee in the sand and popped out a ring, asking me to marry him.
I of course said yes!
Funny enough, all of our friends and Christina’s family knew that this was the big weekend he was going to pop the question. In a way, it was the worst kept secret, but they managed to keep it from me!
The first photo after our walk.
In fact, a lot of planning had gone into that weekend. Matt had arranged things with Christina (who had to tell her family because she found it so hard not to tell me) and our friends who were with us that weekend also knew. So did our friend Steve who had taken photos of the engagement ring prior to the weekend so that Matt could email photos of the ring to my family, my Toronto Mama Sybil, and his parents the day before we went away for the weekend. He even snuck up some sparkling wine without me knowing so that we could crack open a few bottles to celebrate with everyone.
Just engaged!
That evening, Matt’s parents came to the cottage and had dinner with us at the same restaurant where his parents got engaged. Christina had brought some extra clothes so that I’d have a decent outfit since I was in cottage mode and wearing some pretty scraggly shorts and shirts.
It was an amazing weekend. One that I’ll never forget.
Oh and we did eventually get to set off those fireworks.
Happy anniversary Matt! On July 7th, we’ll celebrate six years of marriage! XOXO
Me as a Brownie circa 1988.
I’ve been involved with Girl Guides of Canada almost consistently since I was seven years old when I became a Brownie (this was before Sparks even existed!).
I did have a few years where I wasn’t involved with the Guiding movement while I was living in Toronto, but once I returned to Newfoundland and Labrador, I joined up with the Brownie unit I volunteered with for years before moving away.
There have been lots of raining camping trips, tinfoil dinners, and so many campfire songs that have enriched my childhood and adulthood thanks to Girl Guides.
I can even brag that I met one of my best friends thanks to Pathfinders! I still remember our first meeting of the 34th St. John’s Pathfinders. There was a larger than normal number of first year girls because a bunch of us from another area in the city had heard that this unit was really good, so we decided to join it. There was a girl there named Stacey and I figured she must have been a second year girl because she already had a bunch of badges (when in fact Stacey had attended the Pathfinder’s camp that summer and earned those badges as a brand new member).
Stacey and I with the Pathfinder(s) of the Year award, circa 1996. It was the first time ever that two people received it… which seems rather fitting for us. Also in the photo is Joan Osmond who was one of our leaders in both Pathfinders and Rangers (and she went to England and Switzerland with us), and Marg Breen our Provincial Commissioner at the time.
Stacey and I went to the same junior high school and it was through our Pathfinder meetings and also recognizing each other at school that we became fast friends. And around that same time a girl named Darleen, who was in Stacey homeroom, was also on the scene and the three of started a friendship that still holds true today.
There are a lot of great memories I share through Guiding adventures with Stacey; and lots of inside jokes. From the Allen blanket, to lying in the middle of the road in Adelboden, Switzerland, to using a map with a hole in it while trying get to a showing of Rent! in London, England… we’ve had a lot of good times.
Over the years I’ve made a lot of great friends thanks to Girl Guides and I also hope that I’ve helped mentor and be a role model for the girls that have come up through our Brownie unit. Our meetings are on Monday nights and no matter how tired I may be after work that day, I always feel energized and hapy after a Brownie meeting.
Missy Moo, Stacey and I at the Guiding banquet last week.
Last week was the end of year banquet for our Brownie unit and also the Girl Guide unit that our group normally move on to once they finish their second year. The leader of both units are good friends (including some daughters and mothers who are leaders! It really is a family thing for us). So f course I had to bring Missy Moo. She was wearing a onsie that said Future Guide on it, which we have on loan from Stacey (her little one was wearing it until she grew out of it, not it’s my little one’s turn).
I do hope Missy Moo will want to be in Girl Guides. I won’t force her to join, but I hope she’ll see how much fun it is and how it can be such a great way to make friendships that can last a lifetime.
I have a sibling. One brother. No sisters. But growing up, there were two cousins of mine that were like sisters and we have so many great memories that I can’t help but share a few photos here to show how much we’ve grown!
Sarah, Susan and I are the same age (with my birthday being in May and theirs in November). As twins, they were always very close, but found room for me to join in their twinsie fun. I remember lots of family camping adventures out in Eastport, them coming up to Bull Pond, and sleepovers at our aunt and uncle’s house. And let’s not forget the many hours in a certain cul-de-sac where we rode our bikes and played for hours. So many fun memories.
Not sure what year this was taken. Maybe 1986?
Sometime in 1994 I think.
August 2006
How much we’ve grown! I also find it to be a funny coincidence that in all three of these pictures we’re standing in the same spot of Sarah, myself, and Susan. Ha ha!
There are more photos of us together (from summer fun to dressing up at Halloween), but I’ll save those for another Thursday. ;)