Kevin and Raynes Big Adventure

aka How to leave everything you know in 30 days

16Jun05 - well time is getting short and the list of tasks seems to be getting longer. I decided to start a blog (weblog) to keep everyone up to date on what's happening for the next few weeks. It's kinda like writing a letter or making a phone call but easier.

Blogging has become pretty popular with the young and hip (of which I am neither) so here goes.

Rayne decided to accept a position with her Parent company (in Connecticut), Open Solutions on the long weekend in May. That day (23rd May), we were walking down the street and looked at each other while walking the dogs. I asked Rayne "so do you wanna get married", to which she replied "do you?". How utterly romantic eh? We had a good chuckle and continued walking. The fact is we both knew we had to get married or Rayne was going to Connecticut and I was staying in Vancouver. Neither of us could deal with the fact that Brodie and Kyla (our West Highland Terriers) may have to be split up if this happened, so we decided to get hitched for the sake of the dogs.

Truthfully I adore Rayne and moving to the East Coast where winters are long and frigid, and people speak like the Kennedy's seemed like a small price to pay to keep hanging out together.

So the next day we decided to plan our wedding. Only problem was we needed to get a wedding certificate before we left on the 2nd of July. Complicating things was the fact that Rayne's parents were about to take off for a month to the Yukon. Hmmmmm, what to do. We decided to have a "quickie"........wedding ceremony. We called our friends Don and James and asked if we could get married in their back yard. Don and James are fantastic lanscapers and have a great yard. They agreed so we were set.

We decided to have the ceremony that Saturday (remember it's Monday). So Tuesday we got the rings. Then Wednesday Rayne got the marriage license and went dress shopping. Thursday, we called a few friends (about 10 or 12), and I got a marriage commisioner. Don and James offered to look after everything for the wedding except for the booze (good looking and smart these guys!). Saturday came and Rayne had a dress but it was white (and so was she) so Saturday morning we went dress shopping and found a beautiful orange sun dress for Rayne and Bermuda shorts and a short sleeved shirt for me. Lucky thing too, the temperature outside hit 32C that day!

So Saturday came and we went to Don and James' house. The backyard was decked out with a long table and there were wedding bells in the plum tree. The boys had really outdone themselves. I was thinking backyard barbecque and we ended up with outdoor banquet hall. Everyone showed up and the Marriage Commissioner turned out to be exactly what we were looking for (not too fluffy). The ceremony was quick (just the way I like em, especially when I'm in one at 32C) and went without a hitch except for the "awfully leaded wife" part I tripped over with my tongue.

We all had a few laughs and some punch and then dinner was served, and what a dinner it was! A four course dinner was served by Don and James' neighbors Sue and Calvin (and Sue made the most amazing wedding cake!). The guests started clinking glasses right away (I fixed them though, by giving my new wife a sloppy wet kiss, they never clinked again). The rest of the night was a blur of hugs and kisses, good wine and fun stories.

So now we're married. Since then Rayne went to Connecticut for 2 weeks to work and find a place to live. We rented our place to a really nice couple who sold their place in Coquitlam and are planning to enjoy downtown Vancouver for a couple of years before building a house on the Sunshine Coast. We have arranged for movers (ouch 7,000 USD), started pearing down our belongings, arranged for flights with our puppies, found a marriage commisioner for another wedding ceremony on July 1st (for family and Island friends, mostly), begun the process of severing ties in our beloved Canada (to avoid the draconian Revenue Canada) all while working fulltime and taking puppies out 4-6 times a day.

That's it for now folks....K&R