13 years ago today

Today, marks 13 years (and today is the 13th of February) when Cliff and I went on our very first date. That first date we went to Milestones for dinner, and then we went to see the movie  'Sense and Sensibility.' The next day, was Valentines Day 1996 (and tomorrow will be our 13th Valentines together) and we went to the Flying Beaver (a local pub) for a fun evening.  We ended up leaving and heading to a vancouver bar and playing pool, and then eventually hanging out at Prospect Point in Vancouver's Stanley Park until something like 2 am in the morning (on a work night---remember those days!?) 

Last night, Cliff and I headed into downtown Vancouver to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre to go to the Cultural Olympiad - Vancouver 2010 One-Year Countdown Celebration. This was an evening to celebrate the countdown of 365 days until the 2010 Olympics here in our hometown of Vancouver, BC Canada. This evening had many amazing sights and sounds (And we had great seats!!)  It was a great program that had all Canadian talent. It started with a Four Host First Nations drum dance, Joel Plaskett, Alberta Ballet that performed an excerpt from Joni Mitchell's (another very famous Canadian) "The Fiddle and The Drum", then we heard Adrian Anantawan on his violin (and he was born without his right hand!), Luke Doucet, and of course a very famous Canadian Sarah McLachlan. I would have to say Sarah was the highlight of our night. We have always wanted to see her in concert since the Lilith Fair days. She did not let us down. AMAZING. Her playlist was great, including two new songs, and old great songs like Ice Cream, Building a Mystery, Adia and many more! It was so incredible.

I felt extremely proud to be a Canadian yesterday, and I  cannot believe that yesterday marked 365 days until Vancouver 2010! If this was just a taste of what is to come, I cannot WAIT to see what the 2010 Olympics will be like. I encourage you to Google some of the links and listen to some of our Canadian Talent. I hadn't heard of any one of these artists (except for Sarah!) 

I would have to say on a side note, I was walking up the stairs from the long, very long washroom line up during a 20 minute intermission and guess who starts talking to me. Silken Laumann. She was talking about the bathroom line up, and how inspiring the ballet was. And, of course how exciting this whole evening was. She shook my hand, and introduced herself as Silken,  (and I was star-struck!!) and I introduced myself as Cathy (and then I introduced Cliff) and she shook his hand. If you are not sure who Silken is, well she is of course Canadian, and Canadian champion rower. Amazing person! So cool.

Wow, it was beautiful night. And it was so wonderful to spend that evening with just me and my husband of almost 11 years. It was much needed, and much appreciated. Thanks Mom in Law for the sitting so we could get out for the evening. It is nights like this that have become so very important to us, to remember and cherish our love for each other. A night that allows us to be just Cathy and Cliff. Who cares if we ate at Burger King...it was just for us.