Happy Saturday! This may be just another Saturday to you, but to me it's an anniversary of sorts. Today, April 28th, marks my 12th year living in Calgary. (I'm in Alberta, Canada for those of you that are unsure where Calgary is.) As I got to thinking more about this day, I realized I've never shared with you the story of how I met Mr. CC, and ended up moving from Las Vegas to Canada way back in 2000. I don't think I've ever told you much about me. So, with a dozen Canadian winters under my belt, I thought now would be a great time for an "about me" type of post. What do you think? Yes? Alright then. Grab a cup of tea or coffee and get comfortable, this may take a little while. ; )
It all started back in January of 2000. I was living in Las Vegas with my, now ex, then husband.
(I'm originally from Chico, Ca.) We were unhappily married and our marriage was definitely on the rocks. Shortly before the new year I had given him an ultimatum to change a few things or I was done. At the same time Mr. CC was living in Calgary and was in a very similar relationship, except he had a 18 month old daughter, Miss E. One night in mid-January I was chatting in an AOL
chat room
(remember AOL?) . I would like to make it very clear that I was in a
regular chat room. It wasn't a room for singles or people looking to "hook up". It was just a normal chat room where men and women from all over the world could chat. Keep in mind this was back when the internet was still pretty new, and I thought it was soo cool that I could talk to people in England, Japan, where ever. Cool! Anyway, back to my story. So I was chatting with some people in a Montreal chat room. Someone asked me where I lived and I wrote, "Las Vegas". After I wrote that some guy responded, "I love Vegas!". Well
that guy turned out to be Mr. CC!
We chatted with some other people for a while and then ended up PMing each other.
(PM = private messaging) He seemed like a nice guy and we had a lot in common. We ended up chatting a few times that week. Every time we did, neither of us mentioned being married. We would talk about our spouses, but referred to them as our ex's. This went on for a couple weeks and I started to have real feelings for him and felt bad that I was lying about not being married. One night while we were chatting I told him I had something to tell him, and he said he had something he needed to tell me too. Well, I'm sure you can guess what we had to tell each other. We came clean and told one another that we were married. Mr. CC also told me that he had a daughter. Telling each other the truth actually brought us closer!
After that night we started talking on the phone every couple of days. It was kinda crazy how strong our feelings for each other were. Around this time we had only known each other for about two months and we were deeply in love. Since things between us were moving soo fast, we thought it would be best if we met in person. You know, to make sure we weren't romanticizing our relationship. - I should mention that by this point Mr. CC and his ex had filed for legal separation. And I had told my husband I wanted a divorce and was moving out. - So in mid-March Mr. CC flew down to Vegas for five days. It was like we'd always been together, we just clicked. Although I will admit that being around him the first hour was very weird. When you've only talked to someone on the phone and seen a couple pictures of them, it's a very strange feeling to actually be sitting next to them. There was a point when I told him to just talk and not look at me! hahaha The five days flew by and before we knew it he was on a plane back to Calgary.
That's when things went lightening fast. He found a place for us to live and moved out. I started packing, bought a one-way ticket and put in my notice at work. I also filed for divorce. I'm sure most of you know how quickly you can get a divorce in Las Vegas. The morning of April 28th, 2000 I boarded a plane and was on my way to Calgary. I had never even been to Canada. To be honest, I had never even thought about
visiting Canada. And now here I was, on my way to live with a guy I'd only known in person for 5 days! What was I thinking?? hahaha Well obviously this story has a happy ending. We've been together ever since and added a daughter to our little family. We finally made our love "legal" on August 8, 2009.
Yep, I'm a crier. I was crying all through the ceremony. I still have the ugly red cry face in this pic. But hey, my hair looks great. ; )
Our little family! I can't believe how little the girls were. : ( They grow up soo fast! Miss E will be 14 this summer and Miss A is 6.
Life over the past 12 years has been pretty good. We're still crazy about each other. I'm a stay at home mom. Our girls are awesome! I love his family. And things with Miss J, his ex, have turned out great. We're actually friends. She even attended my bridal shower. Yes ladies, it is possible! There is hope. =)
So there it is. It's all out there now. I know it's not the best love story. I know the timing on our meeting couldn't have been worse. But it's
our story, for better or worse. Please be kind with your comments! I wasn't sure if I should post this or not. It's a little scary to put soo much of me out there. I just felt like it was time to share more of myself with you. Reading personal stories about other bloggers is always something I enjoy. It makes me feel like - hey, they're just like me! My hope is that some of you can relate to my story. I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for reading! : )
Sharing With:
My favorite dijon type mustard - Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Mmm! My mom sends it to me from California. I used garam masala instead of plan curry, I prefer the flavor. 
