13 Years

The year was 1997, I was living in London, Ontario.  I had a wonderful job working for London Life Mortgages, I was 20 years old.  The month was February and my family was going into Toronto for a youth weekend.  We arrived at the church, and proceeded to the balcony, we sat with friends who had lived in NB but now lived in Niagara Falls.  She leaned over and whispered in my ear....."Remember Jason Gallant from Sussex?"  "He's going to school in Toronto and is sitting a couple rows behind you"....Eventually I turned around and saw him!  He was no longer the scrawny Jason that I'd remembered from our Bible Quizzing days!!  That night I remember saying to my Mom..."Did you see Jason Gallant?  Wow, he's some nice looking"..or something to that nature!!  The next day I'll never forget it...I was sitting in my seat and in he walked with another girl...I said to my Mom...guess he's taken!!  Fast Forward a month to March Break when once again we were headed to another Youth Weekend.  (My parents took my brother & I to every youth event known to man!!) The first night I looked across the church and there was Jason!  The next day was a games day and we chatted a bit, he told me he was helping out with the Youth in Niagara Falls and that he'd brought some of them to this event.  We ended up spending quite a bit of time together that weekend!  My parents being the parents that they are ended up inviting him to our house for a weekend so he could get a home-cooked meal!  He came the next weekend...the Friday night we chatted and he told me that the next girl he dated he planned to marry...I couldn't imagine that it would be me!  We had a lovely weekend, he went home and we talked on the phone every night that next week...not really sure how many weeks went by, but the next time he came down was for his birthday.  We went to a Petra Concert and the rest is history!!  The Petra Concert was April 22nd...on July 17th (my birthday) he proposed and we were married the next August.  It hasn't been easy...it's definitely taken a lot of work...but as of August 8th we've been married 13 years!!!!!!!!!!!  Wooohoooo....we made it this long!  I can definitely say he's my best friend in the whole wide world, and I can't imagine living this life without him by my side....