From Teenage Crush to Lifelong Love: Our Story

Did you ever wonder what it would be like to marry your high school sweetheart, to never date another man? Well, here it is—our story.

I met my husband when I was 16 years old. And by "met," I mean we locked eyes in that small-town, heart-racing, teenage kind of way that either ends in a lifelong love story or a dramatic high school breakup. Lucky for us, it was both.

We dated off and on (mostly on) for seven years, and when we were "broken up," we were still basically inseparable, just best friends who happened to be wildly jealous of anyone who dared look our way. Our breakups lasted about a week, tops, filled with us hanging out, laughing, and spending so much time together it was like we forgot we were "taking a break."

We grew up in rural towns just 15 minutes apart, going to different schools but somehow always orbiting each other’s worlds. He left to work in New Zealand and backpack through Europe, while I moved to the city to pursue college, but somehow, we managed the long distance and kept finding our way back to each other. We got married in 2007 (18 years married), welcomed our first baby in 2008, and now have three incredible, beautiful kids who keep life chaotic in the best possible way.

Our life together? Beautiful, messy, chaotic, and everything in between. We’ve grown up together, learning about each other in ways only time and experience can teach you. We’ve been through the hard stuff, the sickness, the scary health moments with our kids, the “how are we going to get through this?” seasons. And through it all, he’s been my steady, my safe space, my greatest comfort.

But love isn’t just about the easy moments; it’s about the work, the sacrifices, and the balancing act we keep figuring out, even now. We’ve both made sacrifices at different times, career shifts, personal dreams on hold, always finding a way back to balance, even when it felt uneven. We keep choosing each other, not because it’s perfect, but because we’ve learned that working on our marriage isn’t a one-time thing. It’s continuous, intentional, and worth it.

Some days, we question if we missed out on so many experiences life had to offer because we found each other so young. What would our life look like had we made a different choice? There is beauty in finding young love, but it can lead to natural questioning. This is where we learned to embrace each other’s dreams and passions. We allow each other solo adventures and the chance to breathe. We have built an unbreakable trust bond, and that is what makes us shine. No ounce of either of us lacks trust, but it wasn’t always that way. Trust wasn’t a natural state; as humans, we tend to question everything in our lives. We worked on this together, building it brick by brick, strengthening our foundation over time.

We’re total opposites in so many ways. He’s my yin to my yang. His wild, adrenaline-fueled dreams balance my cozy, slow-living heart. He’s climbed Mount Everest Base Camp and tackled week-long backcountry camping hikes, while I convince him to buy an RV (instead of living in a school bus), book all-inclusive resorts with Wi-Fi and room service. He dreams of rugged adventures; I dream of warm destinations and family vacations with soft beds. But we’ve learned to meet in the middle. He’s taught me to embrace the adventure a little more, and I’ve shown him the beauty of slowing down. It’s not about changing each other, it’s about understanding, compromising, and loving the differences.

Our story is filled with the little moments too, like dancing in the kitchen while the kids roll their eyes, or those late-night talks in our early days when I’d chatter for hours, and he’d quietly listen (well, mostly listen). I still wonder sometimes, what on earth did I have to say for four hours straight?

And oh, our wedding? Pure young love energy. Over 500 guests, because, well, 23- and 24-year-old us thought the goal was to throw the party of the year. I invited anyone who knew our names. What were we thinking? But honestly, it was magical,loud, full of love, and exactly what we were about back then.

Anyone who knows my husband knows he has a million ideas and a passion for living life. There are many moments where outsiders would look in at us or our family and simply think, "What the heck are they doing now?" Oh, that’s just Stacy and Kris. We both share a love for travel and the goal of showing our children the world. We focus on experiences versus material things. My husband is a brilliant, talented carpenter by trade, yet we have never built a house. We make sporadic, spontaneous decisions and always have faith to take the chance.

When my health took a turn and I was diagnosed with a rare hereditary condition, HAE (Hereditary Angioedema), it tested everything we had built. Our plate was already full with the medical needs and unpredictability of raising two children with epilepsy, and our middle child, Sydney, being born with TEF/EA (Tracheoesophageal Fistula/Esophageal Atresia). Life had already thrown us more than our fair share of curveballs, and we were no strangers to navigating doctors’ appointments, treatments, and late-night hospital visits. The following years consisted of countless specialist appointments, testing, procedures, medications, and scary drug trials that took me biweekly out of province for 15 months. My physical appearance changed, and the person he married didn’t always match the one in the mirror. Kris provided for us, took care of the kids and the house, often with the help of grandparents. He never flinched. He put on his nursing hat, learning to give me IVs without hesitation, staying steady through the scary ER moments when we thought he might be walking out alone. In the face of it all, he was my rock, my unwavering steady presence. We had already been through so much with our kids’ health challenges, and that’s what makes us live with such passion, so willing to take chances, and embrace life to the fullest. We’ve learned that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, health isn’t promised, and neither is life itself. We’ve faced moments of uncertainty, of fear, and we’ve come out on the other side stronger, with a deeper appreciation for each other and for every moment we get to share. That trust, that care, it’s the foundation we’ve built together, and it’s why we continue to choose each other, and to chase every dream, no matter how wild it may seem.

After 24 years together, he’s still my person. The one I want to see first thing in the morning and kiss goodnight. The one I miss when he’s away, even if it’s just for the day. Sure, his chewing drives me bananas, and don’t even get me started on the socks he leaves around the house, and me not putting my gym equipment away and reminding him for the millionth time about something. But hey, we all have our quirks, right? We’re both far from perfect, but we keep choosing each other, through the laughter, the unpredictability, the tears, and the beautifully ordinary moments.

There’s no denying that it hasn’t been easy. Life handed us our fair share of challenges, health struggles, parenting trials, sacrifices of our dreams. But in all the hardest moments, we’ve been able to look at each other and just know. We were meant to weather the storm together. No amount of time or circumstance could change that.

Our love story isn’t a fairytale, but it’s ours. Full of growth, forgiveness, and a whole lot of learning as we go. As we dream about our future, more adventures, more laughter, more life together, I can’t help but feel incredibly lucky. Because at the end of the day, love isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being present, being patient, and showing up for each other, day after day, year after year.

And I’d choose him all over again. Because God knew exactly what he was doing when he brought us together.

Our wedding day - September 2007