Twenty years ago, I met my destiny.

Shauna. Kristine. Warkentin.

Sparkly-eyed, adorable, passionate—she took my breath, my heart, my reservations away. Before we knew it, we’d become best friends. I think she knew before I did.

By the time December hit, I knew: I want to spend the rest of my life with this girl. I remember asking her if I could hold her hand for the first time, right there in the Polo Park parkade. She said yes.

I took her hand. And melted into a puddle.

Some time later, I asked her if I could kiss her.

She said yes.

So I reached over and kissed her. And died and went to heaven.

New Year’s Eve, I swallowed my nerves and asked her whether she could maybe possibly see the potential for maybe sorta getting engaged within the next year. Perhaps.

“Oh yeah,” she replied, with no hesitation.

“Cool.”

So I started planning. April second was the day. I got our friends and family involved in the plan: A scavenger hunt with one rose and a gift at the first stop, two roses and gift at the second stop, three… four… all the way up to a dozen.

I was number twelve, waiting on the Forks Tower in Winnipeg, overlooking the Red River and the sparkly lights of the city.

Waiting.

And waiting. Too long. Far too long.

“She didn’t show, huh?” Someone asked me.

“No, no, she’ll be here,” I replied, a little worried, waiting with twelve roses and a ring that needed a home.

When she arrived, she told me she’d gotten lost because she’d been so excited that she read the map upside down (Nineteen years later, I still do the navigating when we’re on the road).

Down I went, onto one knee, and reciting Psalm 34:3: “Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.”

She said yes again. Yesssss!

September 4th, 1993, she met me at the front of Portage Avenue M.B. Church and we both said yes. Yes to love and cherish, forsaking all others.

And our grand adventure had begun.

I love you, Shauna Kristine Huebert. I adore and treasure you above all others. You still have my heart, you will always have my heart, and I am yours forever, under the leadership of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.