“There are three things that will endure, faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love.”

— Unknown

I flew back to Calgary in the middle of the coldest period it's been all winter (lucky me) to surprise my family for my parents 50th wedding anniversary. A hop, skip and a jump later (a.k.a 30 hrs in flight) I showed up at my parents front door. The look on their face was priceless and it was worth every minute and every penny to watch them renew their vows in front of their loved ones.

My parents have been through a lot together these past 50 years. They were brave enough to venture to a completely different country, with a language they couldn't speak, a few dollars in their pockets, 2 suitcases and 2 young teenage children. I have so much respect and admiration for my parents because of this. I can only imagine how much self-doubt they endured in the moments when life was tough, when people treated them differently for their thick accents and when my siblings had trouble making new friends at school. Being a teenager is hard enough, now try not speaking the language and having a visibly different culture. But my family endured and persevered. They built a foundation of a beautiful home, were introduced to opportunities they could never dream of in Poland at that time, oh and they brought me into this world 20 years after...:D.

So here's an ode to love and to finding that person who you decide to take on this world with. <3