Our Story

I know I don't update as much as I'd like to, but I'm writing now simply for the sake of recording a memory.  My memory is failing me more than I'd like it to, so while this story is still sorta fresh in my mind, I'd like to share it with you :)

On Saturday July 28, Mark and I planned to cross the border into Niagara Falls New York to do some shopping.  Elijah needs some new clothes for school in the fall and I can usually score some good deals on children's clothes at an outlet mall just across the border into the US. 

We left Elijah with Mark's parents and started off for our trip.  Usually it takes no more than 90 minutes to get to the US, but on this particular day there was traffic everywhere.  We ran into traffic on the highway in the city beside us (Oakville, Ontario) which set us back about 45 minutes, and an hour later when we were about 10 kilometers from the border the traffic had stopped to a very, very slow crawl.  The weather was so hot - I think it was the hottest (and most humid) day we've had all summer. 

In the midst of our stop-and-go adventure, Mark announces that he is REALLY low on gas. 

I asked him if the indicator light had turned on, and he told me that it had turned on about an hour ago!  He figured he had maybe 5 litres of gas left at the most.  We turned off the air conditioning and rolled down the windows and continued to crawl through the line to cross the border. 45 minutes later, we were still at a slow crawl.  Mark kept contemplating turning the car off and pushing it through the traffic, then turning the car on once we reached cutoms, so that we'd have enough to find a gas station as soon as we crossed the border.  I think we were still 5-6 kilometers from customs at this point, and the crawl through traffic was so slow, it might have been another 1.5 hours before we reached customs.

He turned the car off, got out of the car and started pushing it.  I moved into the driver's seat and controlled the brakes.  People in cars around us were laughing.  You'd think this would be embarrassing for me - but all I could think of was how lucky I was to have a guy that wasn't too proud to get out and push a car through stop and go traffic.  He didn't care, he was more than happy to do this so that we'd make it into the US.

He did this for about 45 minutes.  At one point, a guy got out of his car and helped Mark push.  It was such a nice gesture!

When we reached a spot before going over the bridge to US, a few Canada customs employees came to us and told Mark that he couldn't push a car to the border.  He had to either pull over and wait for a tow truck to give us gas, turn the car on and see if he had enough gas to make it to the border, or turn around and head back to look for a gas station.  Mark didn't think he had enough gas to turn the car back on and wait another hour through the line, so he decided to pull over and wait for a tow truck.  When he spoke to a tow truck driver, the guy said that he could get us gas but it would cost us $40 on top of the price of gas, plus the guy would be a long time getting to us since he had to go through all that traffic again to get to where we were.

BUT - if Mark got out of the line and turned around, we'd have to wait through ALL that traffic again to cross the border.  We had already waited for a long time, so it didn't seem worth it to just get out of line and start all over.  Oddly enough, I wasn't upset.  The customs guy told us that we could try the other bridge because the lines are shorter there, so we decided to try that.  Mark turned the car on and headed back to the nearest highway exit.  We found a gas station in a teeny tiny town and filled up.  After that, we drove through Niagara Falls to the other bridge and got back into another crazy line in an attempt to cross the border there to FINALLY get some shopping done. 

We were in that line for 45 minutes, and once we almost reached the point of no return, we were faced with the decision to either continue in that line for another hour to get to the border or back out and call it a day.  I really had my heart set on shopping, but at this point we had been sitting in that car for over 4 hours and wanted to get out!  Mark noted that we could still make use of the day by dropping the shopping plan and spending the rest of our time in Niagara together.  It was a great idea!  We got out of the line and parked the car at the casino.

   

Mark and I went into the casino and played slots.  Amazingly, we only played $5 but were in there for a good half hour.  We were having so much fun together, I'll never forget it.  We kept making bets like "if we win this time, we'll eat at a restaurant" or "if we lose this time, it's take out".  Five dollars lasted us a pretty long time, and once we were out it was time for lunch.  We decided to eat at Kelsey's (one of my favourite restaurants).  We ordered a pitcher of beer and ate on the patio.  It was so nice!

   

It's funny how I wasn't even the least bit upset about how the day was turning out.  Normally I'd get sooooo mad at Mark for driving with an empty gas tank, and also mad at the fact that we had been through stop and go traffic in the crazy heat with nothing to show for it.  I really really wanted to go shopping, but we never made it there and that was OK.  I was happy.  Happy because despite our circumstances, we were having a great time with each other, joking around, playing music in the car, smooching & hugging, and being friends.  I remember a time during our meal when I got so emotional.  I started to get all teary eyed, and when he asked me what was wrong, I told him I was just so happy to be with him there and that I was having such a wonderful time.  Niagara Falls is my favourite place on earth, and by some strange circumstances we ended up there together, what an amazing change in luck!  Our plans were messed up, we were stuck in a car with no air conditioning, we didn't get to cross the border... but the company was soooo good and everything felt perfect.

After we ate, Mark and I roamed Niagara.  The main strip was so busy, there were a TON of people there.  We walked through some gardens and headed over to the falls.  There was this new lookout platform I had never seen there before, it was near the entrance to the Maid of the Mist.  We climbed to the top of that platform and could see the view of both US and Canadian falls.

 

It was so beautiful.

On that platform with the falls in front of us, Mark leaned in towards me and whispered into my ear.

"I have a secret" he says.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"Will you marry me?"

"You know I'll marry you" I said.  To be honest, I thought he was just joking around.

But he went into his pocket and pulled out a ring and placed it onto my finger.  The most beautiful ring I have ever seen in my life.  I started to cry.  I was actually sobbing.  After six years of ups and downs, trials, happiness, a beautiful baby boy... we were there, at that moment, together and making a promise to be together for the rest of our lives.  It was the happiest moment in my entire life.  I couldn't imagine a better moment for that to happen... and it's amazing how none of it was planned.  We never planned to end up in Niagara Falls.  He never intended to ask me that day, he was actually saving it for another time.  But the ring was in his car and everything felt perfect, so he put it in his pocket and brought it with him for our day.

The most pefect, most meaningful day... I am so happy.  Every day since then we've been so excited, talking about our wedding and what we're going to do, and how lucky we are to have each other.  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful man.  So happy that our family is going to be complete.

I love him with all my heart, he is doing so much to make me happy and show me he loves me and oh MAN I feel like the luckiest woman in the world that he asked me to be his wife.

WE'RE ENGAGED!!!!

Thanks for reading :)

Comments

[courtney]

Jill, Congratulations! :) I am really happy for you guys!!

[Nicole]

Oh my gosh girlie!!! I loved reading your story and a huge CONGRATS!!!!! :)

[Sara]

girl you gave me chills. Congratulations...you SO deserve to be happy!

[Séverine]

OH Congratulations Jill! This is the sweetest story
I LOVED reading it!

I wish you all the happiness of the world!

[Stephanie]

I am SOOOO excited for you Jill!!!
That story was absolutely beautiful and I am so glad you shared it.
You, Mark and Elijah deserve all the happiness in the world.
Huge Congrats and I look forward to hearing about all the wedding plans!

[carrie]

dang. this is the best story ever! i love it. my husband and i were JUST talking about happy endings :o) how appropriate, right? so unbelievably excited for you.

[Kelly (aka PhotohappyCdn)]

Yeah!! Congratulations, Jill! I am so excited and happy for you!!

[Jenny Mathews]

OH JILL!!! What wonderful news and what a cute story ;) Congratulations to the three of you. You so deserve this happy time! HUGS!

[Joke BK]

What a great story and I'm very happy for the two of you. Enjoy every minute of it. And oh Jill, I'm happy you're blogging again for such a long time.

[Rorik]

Oh wow..cogratulations! What a beautiful story...I loved it! Thanks for sharing.

[Stevie K]

Aaahhh!! Jill!!! That is so awesome! It gave me the chills! See everything happens for a reason ;0). Congrats! Extremely happy to hear everything is going awesomely!!

Love Stevie

[Julie]

Congratulations! That is a great story! I wish you 3 the best of luck and happiness.

May God Always Be With You And Yours:)

[Christine]

I KNEW IT!!!!!!
HUGE CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!

Oh, hun, I am so happy for you!!!!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!
I just had a feeling... it does my heart so good to see you so happy.

C

[jenn]

OMGOSH JILL!!!! I'm sooo happy for you guys! I was tearing up reading this!!!! Soooooo happy for all three of you ;) YAY!!!

[Janette]

Oh Jill reading this gave me tears of happiness for you both. The thing that really is awesome is that the Lord had his hand in this perfect day. Mark asked you that day b/c it was meant to be. Congratulations once again! Great big hugs to all 3 of you! Love, Janette, Bryan, Tara, Natasha and Sammy! :)
P.S. You got come visit and show off the ring. Sammy is getting big and he is sooooooo darn cute! He is the sweetest thing. :) You have to see him. All three of you! :) Take care.

[CarrieC]

YAYYYYY! Jill I am soooo happy for you! :)

[Courtney delaura]

OH JILL!
oh my gosh
I am so happy for you!!

Court

[slammie]

Congratulations!!