Our Engagement Story
Everyone enjoys a romantic love story. Here is ours.
My husband, Mark, and I met in the summer of 2018 via the popular dating app Bumble. In February of 2020 we moved in together, right before the world shut down with the global pandemic. Now if that doesn’t test a relationship, I don’t know what would! For us, it only brought us closer together.
It showed us what we valued most, what we appreciated in one another. It really gives you the time to discover each others true selves, your deepest darkest secrets, forces you face and embrace each others brilliances and flaws. Luckily for us, it only made us fall deeper in love with one another.
We had talked about a future together, how we wanted to raise a family, our goals and dreams. All of which helped us ensure we were on the same page in life. After our 2 year dating anniversary in August of 2020, I was quite hopeful Mark would propose. But he did not. We went out to his family’s cottage up north during the fall with all of the beautiful colours from the trees along the lake, still didn’t happen.
I had battled some personal demons with anxiety and depression in my past. Past heartbreaks, self-sabotage, beating myself up inside for not reaching life milestones by certain points in my life that both I had, and society had put a timeline on. I would have moments where I would become so enraged and sad by not being married yet, not having children yet, not being as successful in a stable career as I had dreamed of because that was what we are supposed to do in life, right?
Wrong! Side note: everyone’s life journey is going to be different. I can attest to this 100%. Whatever you want in life, will happen in it’s own time. It may not always happen the way we expect (quite often it does not at all) but it will happen in it’s own way, when it is meant to happen.
It wasn’t until November 8th, 2020, when we went on a hike at a local Provincial Nature Reserve nearby the town we were living, where Mark made all of my internal disappointments disappear.
I had put it out of my mind (for the most part) that an engagement was rending it’s head. Although there was one point at a lookout spot that was beautiful and seemed pretty private that I had hoped I would turn around and he would be on one knee. Wrong again! Mark had an even better plan for me.
My husband is quite the nature guy and appreciates all different types of trees and plants, etc. As we were coming to the end of the hike, nearing the end of the path, there was a large section of land where all of these new trees had been planted. It did not come as a surprise to me when he wanted to hike through them further, this was just something he tended to do. He guided me through all of this brush and twigs and quite a messy route which was not part of the created hiking paths. I had to look down for most of this walk to avoid tripping over something. Mark held my hand and walked in front of me, guiding me through, and I patiently went along, further into the young, newly planted trees.
We suddenly took a sharp turn, I honestly thought he had seen something cool he wanted to explore further, but he let go of my hand and kept going on his own. I was still looking down trying to keep from falling. I noticed he had stopped walking ahead, I am sure I was being a smartass and said something silly about him ditching me, but then noticed the look on his face.
He was up to something, was waiting for me to notice something. I got a little closer to him, giving him a curious look, and that was when I noticed it. It took me a moment to process what was happening.
He had hand painted a large cardboard sign that read “Marry Me Melanie”. He had tied it to 2 trees in the middle of this newly planted forest, away from all eyes, in a secluded, private spot for this moment to be just us. The sun was just beginning to set, he got down on one knee and all my dreams came true in that moment. It was finally happening, the man I had waited for my whole life was asking me to be his wife. True love was real.
It could not have been more perfect. We all have these misconceptions on how these moments are “supposed” to be played out in our lives due to tv, movies and social media. This was so fitting for us.
Mark had also arranged to have his sister come out soon after the proposal to take some photos of us in that moment of pure joy and bliss. While I was dressed for a hike, not a photoshoot, I cherish these photos so much, because this was the real moment that the rest of my life began.
We were married on October 16th, 2021. We now have a beautiful little boy who was born in October of 2022 and have another baby on the way, expected in May of 2024. We bought our first home in 2022 and have done countless renovations to make it our own. Life can be so unexpected and can test our fate in so many ways. But at the end of the day, trust the process, as it is so different for all of us.
Melanie xoxox