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Adam and Brandie - Our Story
This is really the most significant thing that is occurring in my life at the moment. I am engaged to a precious and lovely lady. The two of us have entered a wedding contest being hosted by a local radio station for a prize package which includes the DJ, Honeymoon in the Bahamas as well as a wide range of other valuable things including being married on the air. The winner will be decided by vote on the radio station's website after May 18th, the last day of voting.
All that is needed for me and my fiancee to win is for those that read this blog to vote once per day until May 18th. If you'd like to do this but would have trouble remembering, I am more then happy to help you help me. I can either email you daily or you can join the Facebook group I started for this occasion where I message the members once a day.
If you'd like to vote, then just click here: http://www.cjsi.ca/polls/vote/21/
To see the contest details, prizes and current standings click here: http://www.cjsi.ca/polls/7/
I just wanted to share, here in this blog, the submission I wrote to enter the contest. First, the guidelines.
"If you are engaged or planning to be engaged soon Shine FM wants to marry you on air. To enter simply tell us your story.
Tell us things like how did you meet, what are the things you love about each other, how do you compliment each other, why do you think you should be married on air, etc."
Finally, the entry.
~
I first met my fiancee back in high school, but I have to admit, that didn’t necessarily mean I knew she existed. She was this quiet girl in grade 10 who was friends with some of my friend’s friends while I was in my final year. A big group of us always met up by the couches in the mornings and she was just there, along with everybody else. In fact, I’m not ever certain I could have told you her name back then. Do you ever have these moments where you look back on your life and wonder how you could have possibly been so oblivious? I think I’m having one of those moments right now…
I wish I could say that I have a picturesque tale of how, through an accidental set of circumstances involving a pumpkin, a few wicked step sisters and a fairy god mother she became my prom date and we professed our undying love for one another while we danced the waltz, but then Disney would be shortly knocking upon my door to have a word with me. No, the truth of how I met her, really met her, is, although somewhat less magical, equally wonderful.
I graduated uneventfully from high school in 2003 and promptly moved out of my parents house. My bus pass was up to date and I held down a job pouring coffee and packing donuts at Tim Hortons. I was set for life! When I wasn’t working I hung out with some of my high school friends, played video games, or wrote random stories with other people in a chat room that some of the group from high school frequented. (I’m something of a poet and a writer.) There was one particular night when somebody new joined the chat room and took part in a story that I’d been working on. She instantly got my attention. She was imaginative, funny, interesting, original and she had this creative spark that I felt drawn to. I had a really fun time and we shortly began chatting over MSN. Over the weeks that followed we talked a lot. I shared my poetry with her and she shared her art with me. We realized that we were both from the same high school and that we were even from the same group of friends, but that realization wasn’t very significant, merely an interesting coincidance. That is all it would have ever been, except…
One day I get a message from her over MSN. Her best friend was busy and her sister hates swimming… did I want to go swimming with her? I was bored so I said yes, and that is the day I truly met my fiancee.
To be honest, I almost said no. I’m not much of a swimmer, I can float on my back but I still couldn’t tread water to safe my life. This was a fact that my fiancee found incredibly amusing as she attempted to get me to go down the waterslide.
“But I can’t swim!” I protested. “And the water at the bottom is really deep!” My argument was airtight, I was certain there was no way she could possibly make me go down that waterslide. “I’ll bake you cookies.” She told me. “If you go down the waterslide.” My mouth must’ve opened and closed a couple times as I attempted to form some sort of a rebuttal, but it was no use. Her logic was perfect and I could find nothing with which to refute it. What is it about a sweet, beautiful women offering to bake you cookies that makes a man capable of doing things he never would have considered otherwise?
So I didn’t die, when I got to the bottom I discovered if you thrashed around in the proper manner you could get yourself to the side of the diving tank without having to forgo your natural tendency to breathe. In fact, it was actually rather fun and we went down several more times before we were finished with swimming for the day. It was while we were waiting in line for one of these subsequent forays down the slide that my life changed forever.
She kissed me. Just a little kiss, on the cheek, but she kissed me. I had said something, then she’d said something, then I’d stuck out my tongue at her, and she kissed me on my left cheek. I can remember that moment with crystal clear, high definition, frame by frame playback. She kissed me. She then explained that her Baba (Grandma) had always told her that a Ukrainian tradition was that, if a boy stuck out his tongue at a girl, he wanted her to kiss him. Now I still don’t know if that was a real tradition or not, but that didn’t change the fact that she had kissed me… and I was smiling because of it… and every time I thought about that simple quick kiss for days after, that same smile came back. She had kissed me.
I was done for.
We met up the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that. In fact, for the next three weeks straight we met up every single day. We had water fights with the neighbor kids while she babysat them, we watched movies, we went on bike rides, we spent minutes staring into each others eyes without saying anything, and somehow those minutes would always become hours without us noticing. When I was around her, I’d have this little tingling feeling inside like small little lightning bolts were randomly zapping every part of me. It was unlike anything I’d ever felt before, and she was unlike any women I had ever met.
At first, I remained guarded despite my feelings but the more I got to know her, the more certain I was that I could trust her. Not just with my secrets or my weaknesses, I knew that I could trust her with my heart. I asked her to go out with me in August 9th of 2004 on a night where the stars seemed so vivid and crisp they put to shame the bright light of the full moon. We had a picnic of sorts (I even brought cookies) and danced beneath those stars to a mix CD I had made just for that night. And when I asked her if she would, through whatever came our way, dance with me, she simply smiled and said “Of Course.”
So, of course, I proposed. Three and a half years later on January 20th 2008 this creative, unique and beautiful woman said yes and Brandie Francoeur agreed to marry me. In all the time I’ve known her, she has never ceased to amaze me and she still brings a smile to my face every time I think about her.
The two of us are so different in so many ways yet those differences hold us together and don’t pull us apart. Brandie is incredibly focused and accomplishes whatever tasks she sets herself upon to a high standard of excellence, while I am more laid back and better able to plan and see the whole picture. Brandie is a talented artist and I’ve been told that I am a capable writer. I can’t draw much more then stick figures and she isn’t renowned for her ability to write poetry, but each of us complements the others abilities with our respective gifts and we use them to encourage one another.
It’s a simple truth that I love Brandie, I’ve given her my heart and have held nothing back. She’d stood with me through good and bad, through my best and my worst; I have never found a more loyal individual. Naturally it is also a simple truth that I want to do all that I can for the love of my life. More then anything I want our wedding to be something special that she will remember and treasure forever. I want all her family who would be unable to attend the wedding hear us exchange vows. I want to give her something unique and wonderful, because she deserves it.
So ShineFM, I write to you and your listeners. I’ve never seen an opportunity like this, so I ask that you help me give my fiancee something that can be given no other way. Vote for us, and help me write yet another page somewhere between ‘Once upon a time’ and ‘Happily ever after.’ Thank you, and God bless.
With Sincerest Regards,
Adam Salken.
All that is needed for me and my fiancee to win is for those that read this blog to vote once per day until May 18th. If you'd like to do this but would have trouble remembering, I am more then happy to help you help me. I can either email you daily or you can join the Facebook group I started for this occasion where I message the members once a day.
If you'd like to vote, then just click here: http://www.cjsi.ca/polls/vote/21/
To see the contest details, prizes and current standings click here: http://www.cjsi.ca/polls/7/
I just wanted to share, here in this blog, the submission I wrote to enter the contest. First, the guidelines.
"If you are engaged or planning to be engaged soon Shine FM wants to marry you on air. To enter simply tell us your story.
Tell us things like how did you meet, what are the things you love about each other, how do you compliment each other, why do you think you should be married on air, etc."
Finally, the entry.
~
I first met my fiancee back in high school, but I have to admit, that didn’t necessarily mean I knew she existed. She was this quiet girl in grade 10 who was friends with some of my friend’s friends while I was in my final year. A big group of us always met up by the couches in the mornings and she was just there, along with everybody else. In fact, I’m not ever certain I could have told you her name back then. Do you ever have these moments where you look back on your life and wonder how you could have possibly been so oblivious? I think I’m having one of those moments right now…
I wish I could say that I have a picturesque tale of how, through an accidental set of circumstances involving a pumpkin, a few wicked step sisters and a fairy god mother she became my prom date and we professed our undying love for one another while we danced the waltz, but then Disney would be shortly knocking upon my door to have a word with me. No, the truth of how I met her, really met her, is, although somewhat less magical, equally wonderful.
I graduated uneventfully from high school in 2003 and promptly moved out of my parents house. My bus pass was up to date and I held down a job pouring coffee and packing donuts at Tim Hortons. I was set for life! When I wasn’t working I hung out with some of my high school friends, played video games, or wrote random stories with other people in a chat room that some of the group from high school frequented. (I’m something of a poet and a writer.) There was one particular night when somebody new joined the chat room and took part in a story that I’d been working on. She instantly got my attention. She was imaginative, funny, interesting, original and she had this creative spark that I felt drawn to. I had a really fun time and we shortly began chatting over MSN. Over the weeks that followed we talked a lot. I shared my poetry with her and she shared her art with me. We realized that we were both from the same high school and that we were even from the same group of friends, but that realization wasn’t very significant, merely an interesting coincidance. That is all it would have ever been, except…
One day I get a message from her over MSN. Her best friend was busy and her sister hates swimming… did I want to go swimming with her? I was bored so I said yes, and that is the day I truly met my fiancee.
To be honest, I almost said no. I’m not much of a swimmer, I can float on my back but I still couldn’t tread water to safe my life. This was a fact that my fiancee found incredibly amusing as she attempted to get me to go down the waterslide.
“But I can’t swim!” I protested. “And the water at the bottom is really deep!” My argument was airtight, I was certain there was no way she could possibly make me go down that waterslide. “I’ll bake you cookies.” She told me. “If you go down the waterslide.” My mouth must’ve opened and closed a couple times as I attempted to form some sort of a rebuttal, but it was no use. Her logic was perfect and I could find nothing with which to refute it. What is it about a sweet, beautiful women offering to bake you cookies that makes a man capable of doing things he never would have considered otherwise?
So I didn’t die, when I got to the bottom I discovered if you thrashed around in the proper manner you could get yourself to the side of the diving tank without having to forgo your natural tendency to breathe. In fact, it was actually rather fun and we went down several more times before we were finished with swimming for the day. It was while we were waiting in line for one of these subsequent forays down the slide that my life changed forever.
She kissed me. Just a little kiss, on the cheek, but she kissed me. I had said something, then she’d said something, then I’d stuck out my tongue at her, and she kissed me on my left cheek. I can remember that moment with crystal clear, high definition, frame by frame playback. She kissed me. She then explained that her Baba (Grandma) had always told her that a Ukrainian tradition was that, if a boy stuck out his tongue at a girl, he wanted her to kiss him. Now I still don’t know if that was a real tradition or not, but that didn’t change the fact that she had kissed me… and I was smiling because of it… and every time I thought about that simple quick kiss for days after, that same smile came back. She had kissed me.
I was done for.
We met up the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that. In fact, for the next three weeks straight we met up every single day. We had water fights with the neighbor kids while she babysat them, we watched movies, we went on bike rides, we spent minutes staring into each others eyes without saying anything, and somehow those minutes would always become hours without us noticing. When I was around her, I’d have this little tingling feeling inside like small little lightning bolts were randomly zapping every part of me. It was unlike anything I’d ever felt before, and she was unlike any women I had ever met.
At first, I remained guarded despite my feelings but the more I got to know her, the more certain I was that I could trust her. Not just with my secrets or my weaknesses, I knew that I could trust her with my heart. I asked her to go out with me in August 9th of 2004 on a night where the stars seemed so vivid and crisp they put to shame the bright light of the full moon. We had a picnic of sorts (I even brought cookies) and danced beneath those stars to a mix CD I had made just for that night. And when I asked her if she would, through whatever came our way, dance with me, she simply smiled and said “Of Course.”
So, of course, I proposed. Three and a half years later on January 20th 2008 this creative, unique and beautiful woman said yes and Brandie Francoeur agreed to marry me. In all the time I’ve known her, she has never ceased to amaze me and she still brings a smile to my face every time I think about her.
The two of us are so different in so many ways yet those differences hold us together and don’t pull us apart. Brandie is incredibly focused and accomplishes whatever tasks she sets herself upon to a high standard of excellence, while I am more laid back and better able to plan and see the whole picture. Brandie is a talented artist and I’ve been told that I am a capable writer. I can’t draw much more then stick figures and she isn’t renowned for her ability to write poetry, but each of us complements the others abilities with our respective gifts and we use them to encourage one another.
It’s a simple truth that I love Brandie, I’ve given her my heart and have held nothing back. She’d stood with me through good and bad, through my best and my worst; I have never found a more loyal individual. Naturally it is also a simple truth that I want to do all that I can for the love of my life. More then anything I want our wedding to be something special that she will remember and treasure forever. I want all her family who would be unable to attend the wedding hear us exchange vows. I want to give her something unique and wonderful, because she deserves it.
So ShineFM, I write to you and your listeners. I’ve never seen an opportunity like this, so I ask that you help me give my fiancee something that can be given no other way. Vote for us, and help me write yet another page somewhere between ‘Once upon a time’ and ‘Happily ever after.’ Thank you, and God bless.
With Sincerest Regards,
Adam Salken.
49 Comments
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Comment by Adam Salken on May 7, 2008 at 8:22am -
Thank you so much for reading and commenting. *Huge grin*
Would you be willing to vote for us too? :-P http://www.cjsi.ca/polls/vote/21/
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Comment by Barb Jacobs on May 7, 2008 at 8:50am -
"When I was around her, I’d have this little tingling feeling inside like small little lightning bolts were randomly zapping every part of me. It was unlike anything I’d ever felt before, and she was unlike any women I had ever met."
You speak of the 'thunderbolt'. You are done for. ^_^
May you never forget that feeling. As with anything in life, it will change- that zapping thing is never permanent- but may it change from the shocking, thrilling newness of infatuation into the eternal feeling of true love.
I hope for both of you that it lasts forever.
~B
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Comment by Barb Jacobs on May 7, 2008 at 8:51am
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Oh, and I voted. ^_^
~B
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Comment by Ashlyn on May 7, 2008 at 9:55am - I did vote, and also posted the voting page for you guys on our own forum, for the LARP that my boyfriend and I run. We have 50 players, and I offered XP for anyone who votes for you. I hope that helps! Good luck!
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Comment by Adam Salken on May 7, 2008 at 6:14pm
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What's the emotion or acronym to represent jumping out of your chair and yelling "Yes!" out of excitement? Maybe it's 'Jooyc!' ?? Well, that only covers the first half though... :-D
Suffice to say I am really excited right now, I feel like a kid that's been told he doesn't have a bedtime for the entire week. Hmm... I'm not sure if even that illustrative example is enough to convey the grin on my face right now.
Thank you Ashlyn for your vote, and for pimpin' the link to your LARP group. I'm certain that many of them will decide to vote daily until the contest closes without you having to continue to bribe them. ^_^
And thank you Barb for... everything. Come August 9th I will have been with my Sunrise four years, and even though the thunderbolt has faded the smile that alights upon my face unbidden each time I see her or think about her hasn't diminished in the slightest.
I remember on one occasion she asked me a interesting question. "Will you still love me like this years from now?" I'd just finished doing something particularly sweet for her and she was feeling on top of the world. I thought about it, and realized that (at that point) we had been together for over two and a half years, and in that time I had never ceased to show her and tell her that I loved her. I pointed this out to her and told her, in some spontaneous poetic fashion, (as I am wont to do) that even when we were old and wrinkled I would only love her with greater intensity.
She then smiled and gave me the biggest hug in the world. ^_^
Thank you for your wishes Barb, I am happy to say that I believe we are already well on our way.
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Comment by Lindsey on May 8, 2008 at 4:00am - I'm voting.....now. (Whether I'll remember to everyday is another question. You're welcome to send me a message through Ning to remind me!!) I hope your happily ever after is even better than they say it is!!
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Comment by Ashlyn on May 8, 2008 at 9:06am
- Hey Adam, good to see that as of right now you are at the top of the contest. We'll do our best to keep you there! ;) Good luck!
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Comment by Adam Salken on May 8, 2008 at 3:58pm
- Whoot!! ^_^ We're at 40% right now, thank you Xylia!!!!
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Comment by NAAN on May 8, 2008 at 8:39pm - i voted! :DDD
© 2008 Created by Barb Jacobs on Ning. Create your own social network
I wish you the best of luck in your endeavour, and congratulations to you and your lovely fiance. :) I hope we all can find our little page between "once upon a time" and "happily ever after."
Warm Wishes,
Ashlyn