Our Story

It has been one year since Aiden and I met and we have come so far in just that one year! Here is our story so far...

Covid was making life kind of boring. It was work, go home, work, go home. After having lived in a community all summer while tree planting I was feeling pretty lonely. This ad for Bumble (a dating site) kept popping up on my social media so one afternoon I decided to set up a Bumble account. I wasn't really looking for a relationship; Just some free dinners and getting to meet some new people during my spare time. 

I got free dinners and met quite a few interesting people, but my date the evening of November 3rd, 2020 at the Yellow Deli with Aiden changed all that. Within ten minutes of talking to each other, it was like we had known each other our entire lives. We quickly met again, and soon we were seeing each other almost every day. 

The thing that really stood out to me about Aiden was the way we wanted to live life and the things we were interested in aligned quite well. I had seen couples struggle on a daily basis because they were so opposite of each other and I wanted to find someone who was on board with the same things I was. We both wanted to farm, we both enjoyed being out in nature, we had similar views on raising children. All the boxes kept checking off. He was respectful of my faith and wasn't pushing me to have sex with him which made me feel free to be myself and helped me trust him. 

We clicked so fast; As friends and as a couple. When Aiden proposed to me that November 30th, 2020 I surprised myself and said yes! People may think that was rather fast, but it was one of those situations of "When you know you know." It seemed to be silly to say no when I knew intuitively that I would say yes eventually. 

In January I made the decision to move in with Aiden. He had been driving almost every day to see me from Campbell River to Courteney which is about a forty-minute drive. Wanting to get started on some projects right away together, it just made sense to live with one another. 

Originally we had thought about converting a Grumman van to live and travel in for a while and we had started on the project. However, in early February life changed rather quickly for both of us. We suddenly ended up with 50/50 custody with Aiden's son from a previous relationship and we went from being a couple to an instant family pretty quickly. It was a challenging time for me suddenly being thrown into this parenting role and having to confront Aiden's past life face to face. Thankfully, Aiden's son took to me rather quickly and Aiden's family supported us a lot through this time. 

Up until then, Aiden and I had been practicing abstinence in the hope of being able to wait till we could be married. However, life circumstances were not lining up for us to be married anytime soon. The effect of being very in love and living together was starting to make things difficult. On February 20th, 2021 we decided to marry each other in our own way and say our own vows to one another until the stars aligned better in the future for us to have a real wedding. 

In March, Aiden and I started on some farm projects like our garden and started introducing livestock onto his Grandpa's farm. I left my job at the Comox Therapeutic Riding Center as the hours weren't working out anymore and the distance to and from work every day was not financially viable. It still was my favorite paid job to this day though. However, it has been great being one's own boss and although we have made some mistakes from our attempt at farming this year, I feel we learned a lot and should do better next year. 

In April, a couple days before Aiden's birthday, I took a pregnancy test on the beach. I had missed my period which was unsual. I chose the beach because it seemed like a far more memorable place to find out you are pregnant than the bathroom. Those two pink lines popped up rather quickly. We both were ecstatic when we found out! 

In May, we moved onto the farm and started living out of my camper. That's when our farm life really started kicking off. 

Near the end of June, we decided to do a road trip to Alberta together. We ended up meeting a rancher out there. In July Aiden would go and work out there for the Buffalo Rancher every other week while I stayed at the farm. 

In August, we decided a cabin might be a better plan for housing than a van with two children and our farming plans. Aiden and his friends are pretty skilled in the trades so the frame of the house was all up in one month's time!

In the fall, we managed to harvest enough produce from our garden to last the winter as well as had our meat birds properly butchered at a nearby facility. That feeling of having your own food to last the entire winter is such a good feeling! 

Now November 2021 is almost past! I am 38 weeks pregnant, the interior of the cabin is almost complete. We produced enough food to last us the winter and have started making a return on the investments we put into our livestock. Now we are starting to nest and get this new home of ours all set up for when our daughter is born. Could be any day now!!!

It has been one heck of a year together but we have grown so much as individuals and as a couple. I have never felt so happy or like my life has had this much purpose before. By all means, like any couple, we have our struggles with one another every once in and while. Our love for one another is quite strong though, and we are each other's best friends. Some people might say we moved ahead too fast but honestly we don't care what some people say because we are happy with where we are at and neither of us have any regrets.