Friday, March 27, 2009

The Love of My Life

Today is our 38th anniversary. We are just spending the day together, going out to dinner, and enjoying one another's company. We don't need a big celebration to prove the strength of our love. (Although if the kids want to plan something big and fancy for our 40th we wouldn't argue :)) Today I've put together a list of facts about this man I've been with for so long because I think I know him pretty well by this time.



1. He is the youngest of 4 kids, born on October 24, 1949.








2. He grew up in rural New Brunswick, mostly in the town of Harvey Station.





3. He started driving when he was 9 or 10 – the farm farm tractor out of necessity.







4. Likes his toast slightly burned.



5. Has recently overcome his fear of flying, as long as he’s on a direct flight that doesn’t last more than 4 hours. Luckily there are direct flights between Edmonton and Phoenix.



6. He enjoys taking long road trips with me.



7. He played hockey throughout his life and used to dream of playing in the NHL





He was the goalie in High Level in 1976



8. He can cook a mean burger an enjoys barbequing



9. Lloyd loves being a grandfather and wishes he had more time to spend with the kids







Teaching Nathan the game


10. Lloyd has never liked his name – if he had the choice he’d name himself Mike. (Our second son is Mike)


11. He and his buddy Eric were in the Army Militia during their high school years.




12. Has worked with the First Nations of northern Alberta/BC for over 38 years, on and off



13. Still misses his big brother and mentor, Bert, who passed away 10 years ago.








14. He loves to golf and would like to live where he could golf year round. He organizes a yearly MacKenzie Family golf tournament and has outfitted a lot of kids, in-laws and grandkids with their own clubs.





15. He wishes I was a golfer too, but I just can’t get into it. Maybe I should teach him to scrapbook.



16. He is a better housekeeper than me. Has often said that if I could earn what he does, he’d gladly quit his job and stay home and keep house and raise the kids.



17. Is very generous with everyone and spoils me more than I deserve.





18. Is an expert wheeler-dealer and always bargains down the price of any vehicle he is trying to buy.




19. He has the most beautiful blue eyes and passed them on to each of his seven blue-eyed kids and most of the grandkids.



20. His once-thick dark brown hair has thinned quite a bit over the years and has become more grey than brown, but it’s still curly. We're having fun growing older together though.





21. His great-great grandmother was a Cherokee.



22. For a couple of years in the early 1990’s he was a customs officier at a couple of border crossings between Alberta and Montana.




23. He spent 2 years as a missionary in Southern California back in 1969-70. We got engaged the day he left and didn't see one another for the next two years. We got married two months after he got home.




24. His olders sisters still torment him with chants of “did you get the chickens watered” from his days on the farm.



25. The worse Christmas present he ever received was an accordion from his parents when he was 12 or 13. It was just so not cool. He made them take it back and get him a transistor radio, which was the coolest thing for a kid to own back then.



26. He doesn’t like reading instructions. His motto is “if all else fails, read the instructions”. It makes putting things together and figuring things out very frustrating.




27. He likes high tech gadgets – GPS devices, BlackBerry’s latest, big screen HD TV, TouchSmart big screen computer that doesn’t require a CPU box, satellite radio for his vehicle, etc.




28. His taste is music is varied and eclectic – anything to rock, easy listening, blue grass, country western, folk. He likes it all and has downloaded thousands of songs to his ipod and computer.



29. His favourite TV shows are The Office, CSI and House. His conversations are sprinkled with lines from Seinfeld. "Always Jerry"




30. He and his sister Joyce left New Brunswick when he was 16 and came out west to Edmonton to live. He was followed a few months later by his mother and sister Cheryl, and still later by his dad. I came out two years later. As they were getting ready to leave home (a 3-day/3 night train ride) their mother sewed money into the lining of their coats.


31. He loves the Atlantic Ocean beaches that we became familiar with when we lived in Nova Scotia. A particular favorite is Taylor's Head where my family homesteaded several generations ago.




32. He'll tell anyone who asks that the happiest day of his life was March 27, 1971 when he married the girl he had been in love with since he was 15. And the feeling is mutual. Happy Anniversary Lloyd.

8 comments:

Lloyd said...

Do I love this girl I married? Always, Jerry. Always!

Mickey said...

Awe so sweet Pat! Know your day was special. Did you take pictures to go with everything you wrote -to do a layout?

Brenna said...

Very nice Pat and Happy Anniversary. Hope you had a great day.

JQ said...

I can't believe I never noticed that was a Maple Leaf's sweater. I thought he liked the Canadiens.

Greg said...

I think it would have been really cool if Dad could play the accordian - think of the family reunions! Congratulations to yas both.

Haf Dozen Reasons....... said...

Happy Happy Anniversary!!!!

Awesome post. The pic of the whole family set me back a bit. Thats alot of people!!!!
The sweetest pic is of the two of you on the beach!! Aaah

Anonymous said...

Oh, tingles. I love your tributes to your loved ones. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Happy Anniversary

JQ said...

Dad look like a soldier in that uniform. Eric looks like he's going trick-or-treating.