To my American readers:
Hello folks, we're moving to a new host -- this will probably break feedreader links. We're at:
Canadian Blend
To my Canadian readers:
Hello folks, we're moving to a new host, eh. Please refer to the links above.
(Sorry about that. It never gets old to me.)
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Choosing the Day
When we last left off, and I apologize for the delay but the boys and I have just returned from a trek to the Great White North to visit the West-Coast portion of our family, I’d just proposed to The Canadian Gal.
And she’d laughed.
Not one to be put off by women laughing at me I pushed on.
“Are you laughing at me?” I said with what might have been mock incredulousness (and there’s no way to know as I refuse to look up the definition for incredulous).
“Are you serious?” she asked.
There was a little more back-and-forth banter during which I’m sure “Yes” was murmured at least once. (There’s really no other way to explain the fact we’re now married. And I have a definite memory of hearing the six-year-old squeal with delight.)
I called my mother to tell her the news and without missing a beat she said, “I want to come!” This surprised me and caused me a bit of concern. I was surprised as I find it hard to believe anybody ever wants to go to a wedding. I was concerned as the folks like more than 2500 miles away from Vancouver and, you know, it’s sort of inconvenient.
The Canadian Gal and I had discussed a couple of dates I already had plane tickets for – one in late June and another in mid-July. As luck would have it the June date had been set up as my parents were going to be getting off a cruise ship in Vancouver then; they were returning from an Alaskan cruise to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. This made the June date very appealing.
Another reason June seemed like the best choice (past I couldn’t wait) is that the July date was when the boys and I had planned to go up for vacation. The Canadian and I were afraid if we pushed things back that far it would give us, and interested parties, too much time to plan. There was also the fear that… wait, let me do a dramatic re-enactment of a web chat we had going.
The Canadian Gal and I were on webcams and her phone rang. It was her sister calling to congratulate her. During the course of their conversation the sister asked how we chose the date.
“We’d considered July,” she said, “but The American and his boys are coming up then for vacation. We’re afraid if we have it then the wedding might overshadow vacation plans and there might be a lot of extra people here. It’s the first time all the kids will be together and we want it to be just the 10 of us.”
And then she laughed at how it sounded. “That’s right. Just the ten of us!”
I wasn’t worried. It wasn’t maniacal laughing or evil-genius laughing. Just good, old-fashioned happy laughing with a bit of can you believe how that sounds? thrown in.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The Proposal
“Do you think my mother should get married again?” It was The Canadian Gal’s six-year-old; she drew the words slowly and with genuine curiosity.
“I don’t know,” I said, trying to be playful, “what do you think? Should your mother get married again?’
“I think she should get married again,” she said, giving her mother and me a look before bounding off.
And that was good to know. The Canadian gal and I had been talking about getting married for a while. We’d casually introduced the idea to our children, over the previous months, to get a sense of what they were thinking and they all seemed on board.
However, we’d never discussed dates and I wasn’t not sure what she had in mind. Due to some things going on in her life I’d assumed it would be after the new year. Certainly after October. I was a fan of as close to October as possible -- after all, it was several months closer than “after the new year.”
During one of our conversations The Canadian Gal suggested that waiting for October wasn’t really a concern.
So we had that.
And then of course the do-you-think-my-mother-should-get-married-again conversation.
And so it was I gave The Canadian Gal a call from my home in Ohio, my most recent trip to the Great White North just a day or two in the past. We talked for a couple of minutes and she said, “My youngest is eager to talk with you.” This wasn’t a surprise, I typically talked with a child or two whenever I called.
“Put her on,” I said.
And the youngest said, “Are you calling to ask my mother an important question?”
“What kind of important question?”
“You know the kind of important question I’m talking about.”
“I don’t know,” I said, “let me speak to her for a moment.”
The phone was passed back and I paused for a second. “Would you like to marry me?” I asked.
She didn’t pause at all.
She laughed.
(And I’ll have more on this later.)
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Wedding Photos
Let’s see, it’s been more than a week since I’ve been married. A better blogger would have had some photos up by now. What can I say? The wife has been keeping me busy since the wedding… if you know what I mean.
And if by “if you know what I mean” you think I mean “the two of you have been doing a lot of web chatting,” then you and I are on the same page. She and I, after all, live 2,500 miles apart for the time being. In two different countries (sort of, they’re very similar… Canada and my part of the US).
Anyway, how about some wedding photos.
You may be wondering, “where did all the kids come from in these last two photos?” The bride is providing a clue with her left hand.
The Canadian Gal, unsure of whether I’d look like a nerd or a spy later, thought she’d start drinking so it wouldn’t matter so much to her. (You nerds know what I’m talking about here.)
Monday, July 6, 2009
Vacationing in Vancouver
The boys, and you’ll recall I have three between the ages of 11 and 15, will be leaving for Vancouver in a week. We’ll be flying into Seattle as it is sooo much cheaper to do that than it is to fly straight into Vancouver. The four of us can make the roundtrip flight to Seattle for $640 (that’s $160 each) – roundtrip to Vancouver was something better than $2,000.
My new wife, The Canadian Gal, will meet us at SeaTac and whisk us away to the Peace Arch Border Crossing and, finally, Surrey.
This is how it will look to the Canadian Border Patrol.
An American who has just married a Canadian is trying to cross the border with his three boys.
It doesn’t sound complicated or dangerous does it? However, I’ve been advised, and read, that is could be a problem unless I take certain precautions.
Before I go any further, let me say I’m not arguing against the process. After all, I’m sure the rules/regulations/precautions are in place as someone had tried something in the past to make them necessary.
I’ve been told the Canadian Border Patrol (and we’ll call them CBP) will likely want some sort of assurance that I intend on returning to the United States. After all, I’ve just married a Canadian and I’m bringing my three boys for a visit. For all they know I may have every intention of crossing the border and disappearing into the Great White North with my boys – all without their mother’s knowledge.
With this in mind we’ll take with us:
- A letter from the ex giving me permission to take the boys to Canada. We share joint custody, and I didn’t get one when the boys and I went to the Bahamas but, at that time, there wasn’t going to be any sort of announcement that I was going to visit a wife of mine who was not their mother.
- A couple of bills to prove I have roots in the United States. (This is an odd one to me. What if the bill I have is the final bill from whatever company it’s from? You know, now that I think about it, if anybody can track you down it’s someone you owe money to – maybe the CBP wants to know you’re carrying a little debt so they won’t be the only ones looking for you should you overstay your welcome.)
- My most-recent paycheck.
- And, just to be safe, a note from my mom. Mom’s don’t lie, after all.
I could be making the bit up about a note from my mom, and it seems I’ve left something off the list.
So, why tell the CBP we’re going to visit my wife and their step mother? Why not say “we’re coming up to visit a friend”? Well, lying is wrong. And in any case I’m not good at it. Not to mention getting caught in a lie like this probably wouldn’t do us any good. (And I can’t trust my kids to keep quite.)
The Canadian Gal and I have both called our respective Border Patrol Teams up at the Peach Arch and we really don’t expect any problems. However, you don’t want to find you’re poorly prepared when you’re 2,500 miles from home and a mere 10 from your vacation destination.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Canada Day
Today, July 1st, is Canada Day. The day in which Canadians in Canada, and all over the world (as if they’re not spread thin enough already up there) celebrate.
Celebrate...
Celebrate something...
Perhaps celebrate the fact their Independence Day celebration comes three days before our Independence Day celebration. Does this seem a little suspicious to anybody but me? Year after year after year we’d been celebrating our Independence on July 4. Since 1776, in fact. More than ninety years later the Canadians come along and decide to have a big whoop-de-do just three days prior to ours. They must have known our party was right around the corner – it was certainly on the Snap-On Tools calendar by then.
Imagine that year after year after year you host a Super Bowl party and then one year your friend and neighbor decides to host a Stanley Cup party the same night. You both know a lot of the same guys… everybody wants to see football… nobody gives a crap about hockey*… but the neighbor is serving Poutine -- in what can only be an obvious attempt to upstage you – and you know the guys won’t be able to resist.
That’s what this is like -- there’ll be parades, parties, cake and ice cream, and The Snowbirds will be performing somewhere, I’m sure (I can almost hear the song they always sing) – in an obvious attempt to upstage us.
If it weren’t for those pesky folks in Mexico, the Canucks would have the first North American Independence celebration of the year.
And this reminds me of one of Kathleen Madigan’s jokes. When she asked a Mexican person what the Cinco de Mayo celebration was for, the Mexican person replied, “for winning the war for our independence.” Kathleen then asked, “Who’d you beat in the war?” The Mexican person said, “France.” “Big deal,” said Madigan, “Who hasn’t?”
Canada’s Independence came more as a peaceful political process than a war of any sort. (My thought it the French Canadians had July 1st of 1867 off. They do, after all, enjoy a good scrap.) At that time, the part of North America that is now Canada was sectioned off into four provinces. Just four; can you imagine how much easier Geography class would have been if we’d just needed to remember four state capitals?
As you know, I’ve recently married a Canadian person. (A woman Canadian person to be precise.) Surprisingly, and I know because I’ve checked with our HR department, I don’t get today off. Ah well, marrying a Canadian comes with plenty of other benefits – for example, since the wedding and regardless of where I am, I instinctively know where magnetic north is; it’s almost as if I gained some type of Dolphin super power the moment I said “I do.”
Anyway, all across Canada (and the world) today Canadians will be celebrating the peaceful process by which they became independent.
Happy Canada Day.
I’m sure there will be Poutine.
*They don’t give a crap so much they don’t realize the Stanley Cup playoffs are a good ways off.
Technorati Tags: Canada Day,Canada,Canadians,Canadians Marrying Americans,Americans Marrying Canadians,Poutine
Monday, June 29, 2009
We Meet – A Closer Look
As I mentioned last time, The Canadian Gal and I met while playing one of those Facebook games in which you buy and sell each other. I bought her and she started the email exchange with this:
Why ever would you buy a complete stranger’s photo without saying hi.???
:)
I replied thusly:
Hello Canadian Gal,
Mostly because I don't want to come off as Creepy-Internet Guy. (Or as an American who has trouble minding his own business -- you know how we are.)
Now, if someone buys me I send off a little blurb about what a bargain I am, what a good choice they've made, and brag on my abilities to dig things out from beneath the fridge.
How is everything in British Columbia today? It's cold here with some ice and snow -- though I hesitate to complain as I imagine you get hit by it a little harder than we do.
There is a lot of truth in the bit about not wanting to come off as Creepy Internet Guy. I was pretty sure women got hit on all the time (you don’t have to look to far in the blogospshere to find stories of guys saying off-the-wall things to women in on-line forums) and I didn’t want to be put into that lot. Also, I’m a bit shy. And I was still hurting from my divorce, if I’m to be totally honest.
(But, then again, if I were to have been totally honest, in that email I’d have included a blurb about how I won’t dig things out from under a fridge if I suspect there might be a spider beneath it.)
We continued this way for a bit, I recall in one mail she reminded me that I’d never given her an answer as to why I was buying photos of strange women. I sent this reply into the ether:
Why did I buy you? Well, as much as I'd like to say it's because Canadians hold their value well and are a good investment, it was a bit more shallow than that. I was buying attractive women; brunettes are one of my three favorite groups.
She has been kind enough to never let me forget that last sentence.
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