15 years of swearing, I mean sewing…I mean Marriage

Comedian Rita Rudner joked, “I love being married.  It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.”

Fifteen years ago today I found the person that I want to annoy for the rest of my life and she agreed to let me do just that.

Catherinanne was a reserve Chaplain at HMCS Prevot when we met in 1994. When we married in 1996 she was a Reg. Force Chaplain in the CF stationed at CFB Borden. I was still at Huron College studying theology and hoping to be just like Catherinanne when I grew up. No such luck – I never grew up!

What attracts one person to another? How does one know when he or she has found the one special person worthy of your annoying behaviour for a lifetime? Since it is our anniversary let me say a word or two about Catherinanne:

1. She is beautiful – ok so you are saying “duh! We know that stupid – we have seen her!” Well, I mean she was, to me, remarkably beautiful and I was astonished to find such a beautiful specimen at St. Peter’s Seminary. (We met there on October 30, 1994 and I confess that I was a little surprised. One does not except to find attractive women in a house of celibate males).
2. She is very bright. Catherinanne has a brilliant mind with great ideas that are usually best put to work when she is trying to do something that will help others and the world….which takes me to…
3. She is very giving. One will never receive a gift from Catherinanne that is not full of love and thought. There is no bigger heart in this world.
4. Catherinanne is inquisitive (some people call this nosey). Catherinanne has an inquiring and an inquisitive heart and mind. Her need to know is because she genuinely cares about others and what is going on in their lives…perhaps there is something she could do to help….like…
5. She is a person of prayer. I feel in love with a woman whose faith is stronger than most. Because of Catherinanne, my faith is stronger.
6. Catherinanne kind and compassionate. She is comfortable caring for those that others soon forget.
7. She is a wonderful sport. Catherinanne has taken more grief in the form of ribbing than anyone I know – often that ribbing is coming from me.
8. She is prepared to tell me when I am wrong. Now this is a BIG one. I am a George, and anyone who knows a George knows that we are always right and we CANNOT be wrong: Catherinanne did not get the memo! Nonetheless, I count this as a god trait because the biggest part of recovering from any demon is realizing that you have the problem. Catherinanne has managed to show me (with some regularity I hasten to add) that I need to recover from the notion that I am always right. Nothing allows me to see that more than her uncanny ability to point out that I am wrong.

All of this really confirms that Catherinanne may indeed need to have her name put forward for beatification and perhaps even sainthood because the greatest of her qualities is her ability to love me and support me – and sometimes that is not easy to do.

French actress Simone Signoret said of marriage: “Chains do not hold a marriage together.  It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years.”  I am grateful to Catherinanne for stitching this quilt with me for 15 years now.

I love you!