This weekend, one of Chantale’s oldest friend of the family got married. Friday night, we went for cocktails at their suite at the St. Sulpice Hotel (top floor – balcony on the roof overlooking old Montreal) which also was something of a Birthday party for her. Saturday was a whirlwind of activity as we went to my parent’s in the morning, followed by a hairdresser’s appointment, followed by packing overnight bags, followed by driving to St. Hubert where Kyle and Casey would be staying with Francisco and Line, followed by getting ready for the wedding and finally heading out! 🙂 The wedding was very nice and we had a great time – staying at the reception until it closed down at 2:30am. Those of us left at that time went back to the hotel suite but by 3am Chantale had finally hit a wall and needed sleep. So, we got another cab and headed to St. Hubert to crawl into bed at 4am. We slept on the futon in the basement with Kyle in his playpen next to us. At 6am, he was up and wanting out. We pulled him into bed and I hummed and calmed him down for another hour until we all finally got up. At 7am. After only sleeping 2 hours. 🙂 We spent a few quite hours with Francisco and Line and then headed back to the hotel for a brunch and the showing off of Kyle. We hung out with the family for a few more hours until heading back to St. Hubert in the late afternoon to pick up Casey and, finally, go on home. Sunday night, we passed out for about 10 hours. I don’t remember when I did that last. Monday was spent doing a ton of yardwork followed by a great Turkey dinner at my in-laws. What a weekend! 🙂
It’s quite tiring to think of all we did, but it was also quite amazing. It was really special to be at the wedding on Saturday. Especially touching to see how much the couple – Michelle and Casey – really loved each other. I watched Casey choke up when Michelle walked in and remembered how I felt when Chantale walked onto the aisle at our wedding. I smiled when he had to hold himself back from kissing her as her father handed her over and I knew exactly what he was feeling – having gone through it myself the same way. And I had to continue smiling when he lost his composure during his vows, again, remembering me doing the same thing.
The magic of this weekend wedding and the spending of time with their family and ours, sharing stories, anecdotes, and realzing how the last time we were all together like that was at OUR Wedding over 3 years ago, really struck home. I spent the entire weekend remembering how wonderful life was during the planning and execution phase of our wedding. I found it funny that I could not remember any of the insignificant details of the time – such as where I was working or what I was doing – but could only remember how wonderful life was and all the work that went into putting that wedding together. I remember how much I loved Chantale and our time together and could not imagine loving her any less. This weekend made me realize that although you expect to love your partner more as the years go by, you can’t always measure it. But it did strike me at the level of intensity that my love has grown. The life we have now is quite different than 3 years ago – especially when you bring in all the family growth and changes – but the beauty of it is that the amount of love I feel has quadrupled and more (if I really have to quantify it).
As I spent last night looking through the thousands of photographs we took on our wedding weekend, re-reading through the wedding pamphlet we had put together with the ceremony, giggling at the various notes and plans now cobbled together in a scrapbook, I realized how truly great and special our night was. The memories are enduring, and they continue to bring a smile to many faces. And, based on the regular hits to the website still on the net, there are still some out there who continue to visit it! 🙂 It might be years gone by, but the memories are as fresh as today and the desire to continue printing up and putting up photographs of that day still amazes me. It wasn’t the climax of our courtship, it was the prologue to an amazing adventure.
If that isn’t the mark of a truly great, beautiful, amazing, and enduring relationship, I’d like to know what is. It’s not sappy at all to be as in love as I am 🙂 We are truly blessed 🙂