Our Long Distance Love - Meeting my Husband From Across the Ocean

This is probably the easiest story for me to tell and one that I want to tell you all about.

As you know, if you have been reading my blog, I was married for almost 10 years but in 2010 we separated and soon after, got divorced. During the last year or so of my marriage, I was unhappy and I spent a lot of time on my IPhone.  Probably more time than I should have but it was the only little bit of happiness besides my kids, that I really had.  In August of 2010, I downloaded an app called Bingo Live 90.  It is just a little bingo app that allows you to chat with other players in the room.

I spent a lot of time playing this game as it was just a time waster and I was soon talking to almost everyone in the rooms.  There was a group of us that became really close and played and chatted together all the time. Honestly, my IPhone and the people in that bingo game became my friends. Although to this day we have never met, I still keep in contact with them on a regular basis and if I ever visit their hometowns, I am sure that we would get together for coffee.

The chatting in the bingo game eventually moved out to Skype.  Skype is an amazing way to connect with people all over without having to pay long distance fees.  I was able to chat with my him in England and it cost me nothing. Once a week we would all have a chat.  I remember my very first Skype conversation with him.  Honestly, if you are a woman, his voice would have had you swooning.  I am not bragging but I am sure that any woman out there would admit that hearing a British accent really is sexy.  I loved hearing him talk.  I purposely used to ask him questions that would take him a few minutes and lots of talking to answer just so I could listen to him speak.

One of the very first things I realized about him was that we were a lot alike.  We had quite a few of the same interests and we could talk for hours about everything and nothing.  He was also in an unhappy marriage and was in the process of getting divorced as well.  Our meeting and subsequent relationship happened very quickly. Do I think that it may have been too soon? Was he a rebound relationship?  Was this good for the kids? These thoughts and many others went through my mind but in the end I decided to see where it would go.

He spoiled me over the next few months.  Having my favourite perfume sent to me as a surprise, roses delivered on Valentine's day (11 real roses and 1 fake with a note that said "I will love you until the last rose dies, I'm pretty sure I cried for over an hour) and cards sent to me in the mail, just because.

We decided that he would come to Canada to visit me in March of 2011.  It was march break here for the kids so my sister-in-law (the angel that she is) said she would take them for a visit to her house in Michigan for the week and then I didn't have to worry about the kids for the week and I could decide if they were going to meet him or not.

The day he was arriving a friend of mine dropped me off at the airport and I waited.  I have never been so scared, nervous and excited all at the same time.  What if he didn't like me?  What if we didn't hit it off? I should have left all of the nerves at the door because it couldn't have been more perfect.  I saw him immediately and just like that it was like a door to a whole new life opened for us. We spent the week doing fun "touristy" stuff.  I got to go to the CN tower for dinner for the first time, we went shopping (he most definitely spoiled me), we spent a night in Niagara Falls in which he had the most amazing rainbow coloured roses delivered and waiting in our hotel room for me and we took my parents to dinner at Stage West, another first for me.

Everything was absolutely perfect and the only thing left was to pick my kids back up in Michigan and introduce him.  That went even better than I expected as well.  The kids had seen and spoken to him with me on Skype and we introduced him as my friend. The week couldn't have gone any better but it came to an end and I had to say goodbye.  About 3 weeks went by and we decided that we needed to be in the same country so I started looking into jobs that he could do, so he could come to Canada and work.  He was a truck driver in England so I started there.  Eventually, I found a company that had a foreign worker program and would take him as an employee here.  So it was decided, I would go visit him in England in July of 2011, my first trip anywhere (up until this point I had never been anywhere and never on a plane) and it was amazing, but I will save that for another post.  We now call that trip our honeymoon before the wedding.

On July 23, 2011 we landed in Toronto and our life here began.  We got married in September 2012 and had our son in August 2013.  We are currently waiting for his permanent residency to be approved and hope to have that sometime this summer.  We started off in different parts of the world but in the end love really did find me and I can't wait for what the future will bring us.

Mothers Day - My Mommy View

As this time of year comes around again, I can't be anything but thankful. Thankful for my four beautiful babies. Thankful that someone decided that I should be their mommy.

I remember when I was a little girl I wanted to be a mommy. I didn't want to do anything else because when I was 8 being a mommy was the most important job in the world.  As I got older, I still wanted to be a mom but I knew that I would have to have a good job to take care of all of my kids (I wanted 8) and I wanted to be able to give my kids all of the things that my parents weren't able to give me.  My parents tried their best to get us all of the things we needed or wanted but we weren't rich and they could only afford so much.

Being a mom now, I realize that being a good mom has nothing to do with what I can buy my kids. Being a good mom means loving them unconditionally, making the hard decisions so that they can learn to be upstanding adults with good morals and beliefs and letting them know that I will always be there for them. It's not about the money we have but that they feel safe and loved.

Raising kids today is hard.  There are so many outside influences (and not good ones) that come into our kids lives everyday but as parents we have to make sure we are plugged in, we need to know what they are doing all the time and we have to balance this with the ability to let them grow too.  I am having a difficult time with this part.  My oldest, my daughter, is 10 and next September I have to allow her to walk to school on her own. It's not too far from home about a 15 minute walk but I have all of the horrible things in my head that could happen in 15 minutes.  It's my job to protect her and keep her safe.  How do I do that without smothering her?

When I was her age I was walking alone all the time.  I played at a park away from home for hours.  I went to the store on my own and I was never home after school until dinner time.  But it's not safe anymore.  We need to be vigilant.  I will keep them all safe.

So this mother's day, I don't want or need anything.  I just need them to grow and prosper and be safe. The best gift anyone could give me, I already have. Happy, healthy kids that get to call me mommy and I love them more than any gift in the world, but I wouldn't complain if they let me sleep in.