The Canada Gang - S&P

Looking back, it was a pretty incredible stretch of time from the end of August to the middle of September. It seems like a lot happened but it was really only three weeks. The fun started with Stephen and Pleun’s arrival in Leeds. Their flight was not punctual in the slightest so, instead of arriving at 6pm, they didn’t arrive until 10pm. By the time they arrived, Beth was so excited she made us wait outside the building for their taxi to arrive.

Apart from how great it was to see S&P and how much we missed them, I was curious to see what it would be like to spend time together after so long. Stephen saw us off at the airport on September 3, 2006 and we hadn’t seen him since. Although there were regular phone calls, the phone can’t replace hanging out with family. As for Pleun, we met her in February 2006 and got to spend a good amount of time with her on her first trip to Canada. A few weeks after we arrived in England, Stephen announced their engagement and Pleun moved to Canada in December.

The net result of all this moving about is that Beth and I were meeting our new sister-in-law (if you count the visit in February as 1 visit) for the second time 5 days before the wedding. The rest of the Canada Gang has been able to spend plenty of time with the new couple and S&P were old news by the time the wedding rolled around. But for us, in our little, far-removed world, S&P-the-couple remained new.

On our trip to Amsterdam, when we met two of Pleun’s friends, we learned that we weren’t the only ones who had been missing out on seeing S&P start their new life together on the same continent. Stephen had visited a few times, but then Pleun moved to Canada and their great friend was suddenly very far away. But, being the extremely wise souls that the four of us are, we concluded that when you find The One, bold, ocean-spanning actions are necessary. If only we could figure out how they could be in Hamilton and Amsterdam at the same time.

From the first time I met Stephen and Beth at Canterbury Hills, it was easy to see that they were close. Our busy professional lives and our extended absence from Canada has been a challenge for all of our friendships. Trying to stay in touch across the ocean takes some work and it is easy to feel that we are missing out on big moments in the lives of those close to us. I am happy to report that, as with all of our visitors this summer, everything was the same as it ever was. Stephen was the same guy who would come over to our house to do his laundry and watch the Blue Jay game. Unfortunately, he now has his own washer/dryer and no longer needs to come over to our house in Hamilton for laundry. Hopefully, he will anyway. Beth was the same little sister that tries to please her big brother. As for Pleun, she is our new sister and we couldn’t possibly be happier about that.

So today, we wish them a happy one month-iversary.