So this one time, we decided to get married...

As I feel that I've fallen into a Canadian black hole where it would appear neither phones nor internet exist, I thought I would jump on the virtual bandwagon and start a blog. So much has happened in the last few months, I haven't been able to tell nearly as many people as I would like and so this is my earnest, albeit impersonal, attempt to keep those I love up to date.

This year, I got home from an incredible four-month stay in South Africa at the end of April and then graduated two weeks later. After visiting Mr. Liberty in Canada, we decided that I would move to "the Great North" after a nanny stint on Fishers. We parted ways for the month but decided that this was going to be the last time we would spend any considerable length of time apart. Perhaps to make true on his word, Mr. Liberty made a surprise visit to see me and after first asking the blessing of my parents, he led me to my favorite tree (doesn't everyone have one?) and asked me to marry him on a stormy Sunday in July. It was the 27th of July, a year to the day after we first met. Then a month later he turned 27 on August 27th and then a month after that, we got married on September 27th! Coincidence? I think not.

Now how did it come to pass that a girl with somewhere in the neighborhood of 412 close relatives (well... sometimes it feels like that) ended up getting married with a guest list of 33 after two months of engagement? Well I shall tell you. After leaving Fishers, I came straight up to Toronto, and thanks to the referral from a wonderful friend, I began work the day after we got here. Ideally, for an American to work in Canada they must have some skill that makes them more suitable for the job than any Canadian. Well, apart from my ability to speak French, I have no skill. Thus a long game of legal tug-of-war ensued. After a few weeks, the lawyer that my would-be employer so dutifully hired, turned down my case because "he didn't want to steal the company's money." Essentially, if I had had a year of experience at the company's Boston office, I would be qualified enough to work at the Toronto office and have the experience to take the spot of some poor, hard-working Canadian. We were quick to rule out my working in Boston as an option and Plan B was, well, marriage!

So we tossed around the idea of the Carrie Bradshaw-style town hall wedding, but realized that a wedding is a wedding is a, you know, wedding. And no matter what kind it was, our immediate families were going to be a part of it. After deciding on a Wednesday that we were going to get married, we went the "sooner-the-better" road and planned for the Saturday immediately following. Yes, the one three days later. But realizing that, as my dad put it, "the Titanic can't exactly turn on a dime", we decided that we better give my parents a week for it to sink in. Oh and we had to find an officiant! As it turned out, our very small idea for a simple wedding was molded and shaped by lots of loving hands and turned into the wedding of our dreams. On Mr. Liberty's grandparents' farm in rural Ontario we had a small ceremony in front of a two-person chapel that his grandparents had built themselves. Ten days after we first decided to get married and under a light sprinkling of rain, my father walked me over a field to meet my beloved, who looked wonderful dressed in tails, waiting for me at the "altar" of sorts. (I managed to get a gorgeous dressed shipped to me overnight and it fit perfectly!) Then in the cozy, woodstove-warmed farmhouse we had gourmet snacks and champagne toasts while it poured outside. Just as someone offered the idea of moving outside to take pictures, it cleared up magnificently and we did just that. After getting back to Mr. Liberty's family homestead, we ate a home-cooked meal under a beautifully decorated marquis and fairy lights and then danced the night away in a horse stable. There couldn't have been a better way for our families to meet and get to know one another, and there couldn't have been a better way for the two of us to be sent off on our married life. We even had a honeymoon suite! My new brother and sisters-in-law prepared a tent with a plush mattress and duvet, satin pillows, a persian rug and a space heater. After the wedding weekend, we had a perfect little honeymoon in Niagara-on-the-Lake (a gift from Mr. Liberty's aunt and uncle) where we got to sample the best of Canadian wineries. And then finally we made it back to Toronto and to work.

Problems solved? Everything fixed? Not so fast. They would never make it that easy for the wee minions. Lo and behold, marriage is not the insta-cure to working issues... if it was, everyone would be doing it. No, no, the process to be sponsored by one's spouse to become a permanent resident and subsequently have the right to work on Canadian soil takes a solid six months. AT BEST. However, my gracious would-be employers made me an offer to keep me on throughout the whole process and pay me retro-actively with a very generous "signing bonus" (wink, wink) when I was finally able to work. While tempting, we finally decided that it's not so easy staying motivated for a job that you'll get paid for in some undetermined amount of time. Nor would we have the time to attack the mountain of paperwork required of would-be permanent residents if I was working full-time. So I recently said goodbye to the job in order to pursue all the silly things you're supposed to pursue when you're legally unable to work. Painting, screenwriting, blogging...

Now Mr. Liberty and I are nestled in our oh-so-very-cute two-bedroom apartment in downtown Toronto and we're working on the Newlywed-15 to keep us "insulated" for the winter. (Which in Toronto, is like, now... 39 degrees yesterday for all you fahrenheit-minded folk who can think in numbers that high!) We have turned our second bedroom (read: large walk-in closet) into an office where we each have a desk (One courtesy of Aidan and Walter! The other graciously lent by Ashley!) and we work. Mr. Liberty does business plans and music and I do my screenplay writing and... this. And I stare out the window creepily into our neighbors apartments across the way. (I consider it payback for the few weeks that we didn't have window coverings...)

Now that I am fully blog-ready, I promise that I will never let that much happen without telling everyone! It's exhausting just trying to keep up. Nor will any future entries be so long-winded and beleaguering now that we're all on the same page... Thank you for tuning in and we'll see you next time!

Love,

Lady Liberty