Third Time’s the Charm

Posted in: Family History, Travel | 2

March 17, 2023 – Lake Louise, Alberta

This is my third visit to Lake Louise, and each time I have been on a honeymoon.

In the last piece, Conceived in a Ford Pickup, I explained that Mom and Dad drove an old Ford truck towing a holiday camper, on their honeymoon.  They went as far as Lake Louise on that trip.  I am speculating, but that might have been my first honeymoon at Lake Louise.


The second time I came to Lake Louise was with Ivy, my practice spouse.  We drove out to the mountains in the winter of 1984, trying to decide what to do about our marriage.

There was a huge ice palace around the Chateau.  Ivy took this photo on one of those disposable cameras.

The state of our marriage at the time, and the subject of this image were both a little frosty, but let’s call the trip a honeymoon.


Which reminds me of the John Prine song “Lake Marie”.

Many years later

We found ourselves in Canada

Trying to save our marriage

And perhaps catch a few fish

Whatever came first….

John Prine’s lyrics are somewhat insensitive, which may account for the fact that both his marriage and mine, fell apart shortly after.


Bear and I met 37 years ago today, Saint Patrick’s Day 1986. 

Our actual marriage a year later was a non-event.  It involved an eccentric Justice of the Peace in an Edmonton high-rise apartment, two diminutive Scottish witnesses we hired from a lower floor in the building, no ring, and a cat laying on the television in the J.P.’s living-room where the “ceremony” took place. 

For obvious reasons, we celebrate our union on the anniversary of the day we met, not our wedding anniversary.

We didn’t even bother to take a picture on our wedding day.  This selfie was captured shortly after we met in 1986.


I don’t remember my first honeymoon trip to Lake Louise, and the second one is just a blur, but this one seems to be working.  It has only been 37 years, and you never want to take anything for granted, but …

 … Third Time’s the Charm.






2 Responses

  1. Colleen Brownridge

    It doesn’t take a glamorous wedding to to have a strong and healthy relationship, you guys are proof of that!
    Happy Anniversary of the day you met, may you have many more happy years!

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