Edmonton engagement - my two special cases

They met on either sides of the ice cream counter at Leva. He insisted she try the Chai and she couldn’t help but ask him if he fancied the warm Chai they make down the street at Remedy. He took the bait and asked her if she’d want to go with him sometime. She bashfully agreed. When I first met these two, James was telling the story of how he thought it must have been unlucky for a man to propose to a woman in front of her family – because why wouldn’t everyone do it if it wasn’t. So he asked Lindsay’s Mom and of course that put into motion the Christmas eve proposal.

While James is explaining the sorted tale of his arrival in Canada, the impossible struggles he endured and possible rejection this country was proposing on him, Lindsay puts her hand on his knee and he is immediately calmed, he smiles & pauses. My office fades away as he continues talking and I picture the next scene as if a movie is unfolding – He says when he arrived here in Canada with a suit case in one hand and his father on the other hand. He looked up at how blue the sky was and knew this place is where he needed to be. What ever happened here he would fight to stay. A few years later he was in a place in his life where he had almost forgot about that blue sky of opportunity and was almost ready to give up, then she agreed to try the Chai, and he remembered all the reasons he needed to fight.

So he’s standing in front of her whole family telling this story on Christmas Eve and just when Lindsay thinks this is his exit song, he gets down on both knees (James does not mess around) and he asks Lindsay to spend the rest of her life with him. Through tears and cheers, she says yes.

I love that story.

Thank-you guys for allowing me to document this rare love. michel xox