2006/07 Year in Review

Business as a consultant working from home was going so well in 2006 that I decided to move. Why pay for prime real estate near downtown Victoria when I could get way more house in nearby backwoods Langford? I packed everything up, labeled the boxes and called ALL my friends for the big move. That same month, I met Montana Joe.

▲Santa Joe (December 2006)

Part of 2006 and all of 2007 was spent courting Joe. I told him I wasn’t even sure I wanted to date someone from Alberta let alone Montana. That would be like him dating someone from coastal Oregon. Yikes! Anyway, after flying back and forth every month for a year, we had to decide between “getting a room” or buying shares in Westjet. Here’s the timeline in photos:

▲2002-06 Victoria Home

▲2007 Langford Home

▲2008 Montana Home (rented from Joe’s cousin in East Glacier Park)

I rented out my house in Langford and have moved to East Glacier Park, Montana. Wait, it gets better. Are you all sitting down? I got married! Ready for more? And I’m pregnant! (Still a few more weeks to wait to see if it’s a “keeper.”) When Joe told his sister than the baby was at the “blastula” stage, she suggested, “You should get married. Then it won’t be a little blastula anymore.”

▲Denise and Joe have cake at the hospital where Joe works as a physician on the Blackfoot Reservation in Browning, Montana

▲The little gaffer at 7 weeks — an ultrasound to check how many babies might be in there! Phew! Only one.

OK, OK, get rid of those mixed emotions: “Gee, I am happy for her that she is going to start a family, but why didn’t I get an invitation to the wedding?” No one got invited. We tied the knot at the courthouse in order to start the U.S. immigration procedures to see if now that Joe has caught me, he is allowed to keep me. My parents showed up and surprised us to witness the big event! Dad said, “What’s the sense of having a shotgun wedding if the bride’s father isn’t there with a shotgun?”

We will have a “re-enactment” in a traditional Blackfoot ceremony followed by a reception late next summer (probably September) after the baby comes. That way, for those of you who decide to make the big trip, it can be a three-for-one deal: (a) romantic wedding near Glacier National Park (b) meet the new baby and (c) meet that nagging urge to see Montana/get away from the children/plan a vacation, etc. — enter your favourite reason here.

Let me know if you need to see more Montana house or scenery details before you’ll agree to come and visit. Both are spectacular!

Our New Address:

Denise Mason and Joe Gray
PO Box 446
East Glacier Park, MT 59434-0446
USA
(406) 226-5526 home
(877) 226-1526 toll free
(Location: 1104 4th Avenue)

In addition to turning 40 this year, I also got a visit from my brother Dan and family in April. We played hard at being tourists (who knew the Bug Zoo was going to be so much fun?) and the two little ones didn’t tire me out enough to keep me from wanting to make them some cousins!

▲Denise with nieces Noelle (aged 4) and Roxy (aged 2) on their visit in April 2007.

▲Most of the rest of the family in Thetis Lake Park: My dad Dave, me, Joe, Noelle, Roxy and my mom, Midge. (Dan and wife Sarah were taking the photos.)