Our Story

Rob and I met in July 2010. He was doing his practicum at Zajac Ranch for Children for 3 weeks and I happened to volunteer during Autism Week #1, which was his last week. There was definitely no way of communicating while we were there as you're busy the whole time. To be honest, I hardly remember even talking to him during that week, but I DO remember seeing him take off his shirt down by the waterfront.

When camp was done, a lot of the counselors (staff and volunteers) added each other on Facebook. The only counselor who didn't friend request me on Facebook was Rob. I decided to go ahead and add him, even though we didn't really talk at camp. He accepted my friend request and I shyly messaged him asking how everything was going. From there, we talked every other day. He also invited me to a few of his parties, but I just didn't have the time because of work and packing for my move to Alberta.

After Zajac, I moved to Alberta because I thought I needed change. I thought I needed to explore myself and try new things. A lot of family and friends thought it was to get a good degree at a university there, but it was mostly to just escape from everything. (Sorry Mom!) It turned out to be one of my best ideas! Rob lived in British Columbia while I was in Alberta, but we continued to message each other. It eventually led to texting, and a week after that, Rob mentioned that his dad was flying him to Alberta in October for his birthday. He invited me to the bar with him and his friend for one of his birthday parties, and I excitedly accepted.

Photobooth from our first "date"

I thought we were going to a bar with his family and a bunch of his "Alberta friends," but it turned out to be Rob, his friend Dayne, and I. We went to an old bar in downtown Edmonton and saw The Dreadnoughts on October 9. I remember Rob and I left the bar at one point and just went for a walk. He picked a flower for me and told me to keep it, even though it was only a dandelion. Rob tells me now that he wanted to kiss me then, but decided to see where things went instead.

That night, Rob told me "You should come to my Dad's for Thanksgiving tomorrow." Talk about moving fast! Me meeting his WHOLE family on our second date? Well, it happened. I played with his nephews and lost a bunch of times at ladder golf to one of them, who was 5 at the time.

We ended up spending the whole 5 days together that he was in Alberta. I remember having to leave his dad's house at 5:00am to get to work for 7:00am a few of those days. The Monday he left, was very hard. We both didn't want to part and we both weren't sure how it was going to work, being in different provinces. Two days later, on October 14, after a LOT of texting about how we missed each other, we decided that one of us needed to move for us to be together. He wanted to make it official, and asked me to be his girlfriend. From there, our texting turned in to phone calls. He worked the night shift and I usually worked at 6:00am, so he would phone me on his way home as I was leaving for work.

Eventually, we decided on getting our own place in Alberta. After letting our parents know about our plans, my dad's girlfriend's mom (step grandma?) invited us to live in her basement in Red Deer! We graciously accepted and planned our move-in date for January 9th, 2011. That meant we had a whole 2 and a half months before we were moving in together. We couldn't afford to fly back and forth to get to know each other more before the move, so we decided that I would come back to BC to visit my friends for New Year's eve, and spend some time together.

Rob's father offered to drive his truck to BC, pick us up with all of Rob's stuff, and drive us to Red Deer. So on January 8, 2011, we departed. That was a LONG drive because it was still winter and the Coquihalla Highway is horrendous during the winter season.

 It was so cramped

Duck face?

From there, we were inseparable. I worked at Starbucks while Rob looked for jobs. It was hard finding a job for him, so I made most of the money for a while. 

We tried learning everything we could about each other, and met each other's families. His family approved, and so did mine. Rob didn't get to meet my mom until I was in BC for New Years, and she approved after he set up her surround sound system. ;)

The first time Rob told me that he loved me, I was quite drunk. He didn't think at the time that I would remember it, but I totally do and I still bug him about it. Ha! I'm a woman, I remember everything.

What is with Rob and this face?

Living in Alberta, we eventually started missing our friends and other parts of our families in BC. Since we were both thinking about working at Zajac Ranch during the summer of 2011 we figured it would be good to move to BC together after camp. I wasn't sure how we would afford anything or where we would stay, but Rob assured me he would figure everything out, and he did! During camp, we didn't get to hug, say hi, hang out, or do anything together! That was a whole 2 and a half months of passing by each other with a group of kids trailing behind us. It was very difficult, and I think it really tested our relationship. We did get days off between camps though, and we went to his mom's house to sleep and rest up for the next camp. After camp in September, we drove to Alberta to say our good-bye-for-now's to some family and new friends, and to pick up our stuff. We drove back to BC in mid-September and moved in to his mom's house in Delta.

October 2011 was our one-year anniversary, and on November 18, 2011, Rob proposed. That's a whole other post but long story short, it was through text while we sat beside each other at his friend's house, and I said yes. Not very romantic, huh? Well, the day after makes up for the lack of romance in the proposal.

Showin' off my new bling

February 2012, we moved in to our own apartment! It's now June and we just got a room mate because our other one screwed us over. We got a room mate to make rent a bit cheaper, which will help us save money for the wedding.

Rob's friend sitting in our living room

On April 18, 2012 we got our own kitten! We originally named her Chicken, but Rob eventually said that the humor in the name got old, fast, so we renamed her Koshka! He didn't really want a cat, but between class, work, and Rob's job, I was getting kind of lonely. He really only wants what makes me happy, so we got a cat.

2 months old here

So that's our story! We basically knew each other for 5 days and then decided to move in together. From there, we didn't see one another for two and a half months before the move-in date! Part of me was worried it wouldn't work out, but Rob told me that it was about perspective. If we wanted it to work, it could. I'm now 20 and engaged!

We're both excited for the next chapters in our story! We know that there's a lot in store for us and we are both looking forward to going through it together.

What's your story? How long did you and your spouse/partner know each other before making big decisions together?

xo. Nicole