Monday Memory...How I met hubby

So, I loved reading Lala's posts about how her hubby and her got together. I thought I would share how I met my hubby.

I was 18 and finished high school. I decided that I was going to go to college, but when I applied for financial assistance, it was denied. My parents apparently made too much money (I didn't think they did). I decided to forget about college.

Instead, I took some money that I had saved up while working and bought a 30 day, open-ended bus ticket to go across Canada. I was going to travel and then decide if I wanted to pursue schooling after.

I had an itinerary all written out. My daily activities, the sights and places that I was going to go. I bought a hostel membership so I could pay a cheaper price to stay overnight. You also get to meet some great people there too.

Off I headed, all through Ontario, on my way to Manitoba. That was a long bus trip. I had never been that far away on my own before. When I got into Winnipeg, I found my youth hostel and booked in for the night. I walked around the city and checked out some different places, but felt awkward, like I didn't belong there. I decided to leave earlier then originally planned.

Then I headed out to Saskatoon. Again, felt outta place a bit so I travelled on after a day or two there. I was not sticking to my schedule very good...

I headed into Edmonton, where my brother lived and stayed there for a few days. I went to an awesome dDreamspeakers festival while there and saw some great things. I also tried buffalo meat for the first time. It was very good!!

When I left Edmonton, I headed to Calgary. I checked into the hostel there and started walking around the city. When going back to the hostel, I met a bunch of people. There was a guy there from Japan, a guy from New Brunswick and 2 guys from Nova Scotia. I got along really well with them all and we had a great time together.

We spent a lot of time on Electric Avenue (bars, bars, bars...) and I was pretty drunk most of the evenings there. I was underage in Ontario, but the right age in Alberta!! So, it was me and the guys hanging out the whole time, after about a week 3 of them decided to move on. I went with them. Pete (my hubby) and I hitchhiked as a pair and the other 2 guys hitchhiked together.

When hitchhiking (which i had never done before this), you meet some very interesting people. Now, as a mother, I cannot believe whose cars I went in. The drugs and drinking were so prevalent. Every car we went in we were offered something. I thank God that we survived that part of our lives!!

We were heading out to Grande Prairie because there was lotsa work there. We had certain spots where we were going to meet up with the other guys and Banff was one of them. We camped out for the night there, without a tent. All we had was a tarp and that was it. We had a bunch of packaged cappucino samples that we were living off of and that was it for food!

Pete and I went for a walk to the edge of the mountain that we were camping on and watched as the moon peaked over the tip of another one. I really wish that I had a camera to take that picture. The next day we headed to Jasper and camped there for the night. We drank from the fresh mountain water that was running down the sides and we just had a great time there.

Then one of the guys decided to go to BC instead, so we were left with 3 of us. We had decided that for the rest of the trip I would use my bus ticket and the 2 guys would hitch to GP. So, I obviously made it to GP before the guys did and I believe I sat there, in the bus station for about 12 hours. I had no idea if they were even going to come there or not. But, still, I waited.

They finally showed up and we got a motel to stay at. They went out and got a job over the next week, working for a guy who owned a trailer shop. The trailers were the ones that the oil rig guys lived in. Their job was cleaning them when they came back to the shop. Their boss was very nice and let us stay in a camping trailer at his house for a few days then moved us into one of the trailers in the industrial park. It was a 1 room trailer with a bunk bed, barely enough room to walk through the hallway, but it was home.

I got a job at a daycare centre in town and really enjoyed that job. Then I worked at Tim Hortons. Pete proposed to me in November, he got down on one knee and sang the song "I Swear" by John Michael Montgomery (ok, that is weird writing that name, we are so NOT country now!!) I was pregnant by the end of November and we decided to come closer home to get married.

The first day that we got here, my brother (who is a hunter) told Pete that he was going to take him out hunting!! Pete was slightly worried about this, seeing as he just came to Ontario, met the family for the first time, and I was pregnant. Now, he was going hunting...with guns!! He survived the trip and we had a wonder wedding in April and we have a great life now.

I guess this got a bit long...if you read to the end, you are awesome (and may have too much time on your hands...;-) (and I am having so much fun fixing and changing my new website...it is so exciting!!)