About

( Me )

My name is Kate. I’m 26 years old and live in Waterloo, Ontario.

I used to use the description from my online dating profile as the content for this page, but as I closed down my account with that site in the fall of 2009, and got married in 2010, I thought it might be time to update it!

I grew up in Montreal, Quebec, moved to Ontario in 1997 at the age of 12, and went back to Montreal in 2003 to attend Concordia University. I returned, against my better judgment, in April 2008 and it turned out to be the best thing I’ve ever done.

( Au revoir, Montreal )

I’m a communications coordinator for a foundation that raises money for an incredbile social profit organization that provides programming and supports for children with mental health issues, employment development services and seniors’ services. This means I am slightly underpaid but exceedingly happy that the work I do has a direct impact on the money we raise for our clients.

I started blogging in October 2004, which means I’ve been doing this for over 6 years. I lost several (years’ worth of) posts along the way as I switched blogging platforms, and finally figured out that WordPress is obviously the answer to all of life’s problems. I’ve also learned a hell of a lot about HTML and coding, but still rely on my good friend Debi, who is a pro. If you’ve been around here for a while, you know that occasionally fairly often I yell, “Debiiiiiiiiii!” when I’ve messed up and need help. I can tell you that this here blog wouldn’t be here if not for her.

I enjoy messing with the design of this site, which means it often winds up looking like a tornado ripped through it, while I figure out how to fix my mistakes. If you find random lines of code lying around, it’s my fault. I’ve never been good at tidying up after myself.

I say that I came back to Ontario against my better judgment. This is because I had left behind a lot of demons that required facing. Over the last 3 years I have done just that, with the help of a terrific therapist and the help of depression medication. I write openly about these topics and how much I’ve grown and learned.

I used to move approximately once a year, in an attempt to solve all my problems (read: leave them all behind). It wasn’t until I moved home (and I mean HOME – I’ve been living with my parents since I finished school in 2008) that I realized I needed to stay put long enough to actually DEAL WITH IT. In September 2008 I made a promise to myself that I would not go anywhere until it was for the right reasons, and not just running away.

And that brings me to what I mentioned earlier, recently getting married. I met the man I refer to here as The Accountant in August 2009, and knew immediately that he was different than any other man I’d dated. I also knew immediately that we would be together a long time. On March 20, 2010, 4 days short of being together 7 months, he proposed, and we slowly started planning a late summer 2011 wedding.

( Us the day we got engaged )

Although we had been essentially living together since late fall 2009, we moved in together officially in April 2010 and given that I was happier and more at peace than I’d ever been in my life, I’d say that was what moving for the right reasons looks like.

In June 2010 we discovered that my dad was very ill and given little time to live, so on very short notice (4 weeks and the major planning done in 4 days), we planned a wedding and were married 11 months to the day after we met, on July 24, 2010.

( Us on our wedding day )

My dad passed away October 17, 2010, less than 4 months after he received his diagnosis of a very rare and particularly aggressive blood cancer, and prognosis of two weeks to a year to live. By my wedding day, only 4 weeks later, he was so weak that he couldn’t stand for any length of time, and so attended the wedding in a wheelchair and stood just long enough to walk me down the aisle. His condition deteriorated quickly after that, and we know now that if we had planned our wedding to be even one week after we did, he would have been too sick to attend, so the fact that everything happened the way it did is a true gift, and the family photos we have of the day are memories we will cherish for a lifetime.

( My dad and me on my wedding day )

This blog chronicles my life from when I was single and working as a nanny as I went to school, to when I moved home and struggled to find myself after years of running away, to meeting and dating the man who would become my husband, to now, as I enter my second year of marriage and learn a hell of a lot every single day about how to be a wife, life partner and best friend all rolled into one.

It’s an exciting ride, with something new every day. I’m glad you’ve stopped by to share some of it with me!