Ten Years Ago, Today

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Ten years ago, June 16th fell on a Monday.

On Tuesday, my good friend Jody was going to have her wisdom teeth pulled out, and I was her chaperone.  She needed one, trust me.

June 2003 marked the end of my first year of teaching.  That year, I taught third grade 60% of the time, meaning that I only taught Wednesday through Friday, so helping Jody out as she lost her wisdom was easy to fit in.  We were both done report cards and looking at a sunny summer ahead of us.

I lived waaay out in Shad Bay, so I was planning to sleep over at Jody's apartment on Hollis Street Monday night so I would be able to get her to the hospital on time and not have to worry about inbound Halifax traffic.

Of course, as Monday evening approached, Jody wanted to go out to celebrate her last night being wise.  You know, just "in case" something happened and we couldn't go out until the weekend.

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Meanwhile, Eli woke up on June 16th in Comox, BC grumbling and complaining that he had to fly to Halifax for his house hunting trip.  Eli was being posted to Halifax, and this West Coast boy was NOT happy about the posting.

So, he got on the plane with his buddy, JD, who was coming to Halifax on a completely separate military assignment (I want to say that it was for a conference, but I'm not sure).

Eli and JD chatted about Eli's move East on the flight, and JD told Eli that maybe he was supposed to go to Halifax for more than just work.  Maybe there was something in store for him.  Eli was skeptical.

JD and Eli landed and the Halifax airport and rented a car.  They checked into a downtown hotel, and decided that they should head out for supper and a few drinks.

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Jody and I got ready to head out for supper, and wobbled up Spring Garden Road.  Well, I was wobbling because I had a knee brace on my right leg.  I had been paddling on a war canoe earlier that spring on Lake Banook when a wave from a motorized boat hit the canoe in just the right way to knock my patella out of position and cause a great deal of swelling and discomfort.  But, at this point, I could manage to walk around just fine.  I was wearing a long jean skirt to disguise my knee brace, and likely entirely impractical shoes.

We had decided on Mexi Cali Rose's for our Monday night outing... Margarita Mondays and nachos!

We were chatting up a storm walking up Spring Garden Road when we realized that we had just passed the entrance to Mexi's, which was just a door, since Mexi's was on the top floor of an old heritage building. 

I said, "Oh no, Jody.  We missed Mexi's.  We walked right past it!"

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Meanwhile, Eli and JD were walking down Spring Garden Road, having made it to the top, and still undecided about where to eat.

Eli and JD walked right past me and Jody, and overheard my comment about Mexi's.

Eli, grabbed JD and said, "Let's go to Mexi's."  Nudge nudge.  Wink wink.

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Jody lead the way up the narrow staircase and I hobbled along behind her.

Eli was right behind me and asked me why I was limping.

I snapped some snarky retort back at him.

We got up to the packed restaurant.  The deck was being renovated, so seating was limited inside.  Jody set to work and got us two seats at an otherwise full table, and we sat down.  Jody, being Jody, also managed to have some guys go up to the bar to get drinks for us.

Eli and JD hung out on the side with drinks and were waiting for a seat.  When the two unknown drink fetchers got up to get me and Jody margaritas, Eli and JD took their seats. 

And the rest, my friends, is history.

We spent the evening chatting and dancing (alright, hobbling), and the rest of that week together when I wasn't teaching.  After, of course, I had the hilarious privilege to help Jody at the hospital getting her wisdom teeth out. 

"Da doktow pokt me wit a neenol, aan ii huwt.  He didn saie sowie, Sanny!"

Yes, they got all your wisdom, Jo.  Oh, my.  I love that memory!

Eli found an apartment that week (which would later become our apartment), and he returned to Comox the following weekend. 

I wrapped up school the next week, went home for Monique and Eric's wedding and then Eli helped me to fly out to Comox to meet up with him. 

We spent the summer driving across the country together visiting friends Jane and Mike in Edmonton, and Eli's aunts and uncles in the US. 

We did touristy things like Drumheller and Niagara Falls, and landed in Miramichi to a raging east coast bonfire party at Mom and Dad's to introduce Eli to the family.  Romeo gave Eli his first bowl of chicken fricot.

Ten years later, we are living up in Yellowknife with our two girlies, and couldn't be happier that by some blessing, fate, or dumb luck we both walked up those stairs to Mexi's that night.

Happy Father's Day, Eli.  I'm so glad we found each other 10 years ago.