A Note / Novel from Sean:

Erica and I met on Hinge at the tail end of the pandemic. Our first date was at Shore in Port Credit. I picked her up from her house and we laughed the whole way there and proceeded to have a great time where I would make a fool of myself for the first, but definitely not the last time. If you know Erica, I'm sure she has told you about the time I accidentally killed my sister's new rabbit by tripping and falling on it when I was a child. Well, for some reason this was one of the first story's I told her on our date and she laughed so hard for probably way too long. At first, I was confused at the reaction, I thought maybe something was off with her, but I started laughing as well - and somehow, I ended up falling in love with her anyways. I still scratch my head to this day as to why she has to tell everyone this story when she meets them.

On our second date we decided to take a walk through high park. I waited for Erica at the bottom of her steps for a while, but when she finally appeared, I remember losing my breath because she was literally the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. She wore a black skirt, a navy blue button up top and had her hair down in curls. Now I knew why I had to wait so long. As we start walking down the street, she ends up ahead of me a little bit, and I get a look at the backside of her- every inch of her clothing from the back was completely covered in white cat hair... I guess she forgot there was a back side to her as well. Anyways, I laughed at her for this for hours and it is still one of my favourite memories to this day. On our walk I remember asking Erica what she liked about my profile, she said she liked the fact that I valued communication, worked in the trades and had a full head of hair. I asked her why the full head of hair mattered so much, and she mentioned that she came from a family whose men suffered from the curse of baldness. She said she didn't want to pass those genes along to her children. Again, I laughed hysterically and wondered how this girl was still single.

Erica and I have done lots together. From camping with friends in Algonquin, to traveling to BC for a ski vacation. I remember Erica always telling me she was a strong skier and I always thought that was true until our friends Lauren and Adam, who were on the vacation with us, wanted to go down a double black diamond. We all made it down halfway and noticed that we had lost Erica. After waiting for a while trying to see through a snowstorm, I see a little black dot slowly making its way down the hill. It was Erica- she had fallen down and couldn't get back up, so she decided to take her skis off and try and walk down the mountain. We ended up laughing together about it later. At the end of the vacation she mentioned to me that we would will not be traveling out west to ski ever again. I realized when we got home that even though she was a bad skier, I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.

The summertime hit and I knew I was going to pop the question - I just didn't know when or how I would do it. I knew we were planning on taking a holiday with her family, so I thought maybe there would be a moment where I would be able to ask her. We started our vacation off camping in Arrowhead. I kept the ring on me the whole time, waiting for the moment. Unfortunately, it rained the entire weekend, and the timing didn't seem right so I held onto it praying that I wouldn't lose it. I knew we were spending the week at her cottage, and the weather was supposed to be beautiful so I was determined to ask her then. I planned it on a Tuesday where we would have clear skies and a gorgeous sunset. I wanted to make it special, so with the help of her two friends Tarah and Vanessa, we planned a time where they would drive up to the cottage after work and hide in the bushes waiting to surprise her after I proposed. I informed the family of the plan, and they made sure to have dinner finished before sunset so we could go on our sunset walk. After dinner, we headed out on our walk and were just about to turn around to head back when we both saw what looked like a pirate ship off in the distance heading to Balm beach. Of course, I hesitated. Do I take Erica back and propose? Or do I make her walk farther so we could check out this pirate ship. It was a tough decision but luckily, we made the right one and headed back. As we approached the cottage, I noticed Erica’s mom and dad outside chatting with the neighbours. I also noticed the contractors who were working on the neighbours cottage enjoying the sunset on the beach. I started to think, damn I'm going to have to do this in front of an audience now? Erica was suspicious, and asked why everyone was down there staring at us. The moment she said that, I threw away my beer can, got down on one knee and asked her. Obviously, she said yes and everyone jumped out of hiding and cheered. The one thing I'll always remember, is after I proposed and slid the ring on, she turned around and saw her friends standing there - and that's when she decided to cry. We all gathered in the cottage to celebrate with cake and champagne, and I sat there thinking, I'm so glad I didn’t decide to propose to her while we were camping. The cottage means everything to Erica, so we are both very excited that we got engaged and will be getting married in this very special place. We hope that you will all enjoy it as much as we do. See everyone at the wedding, and we look forward to celebrating with you.

Sincerely,

Erica & Sean