We left for the airport with my parents on Wednesday evening. We left in plenty of time and got to watch a few planes take off on a road close to the airport. We also ran into my old boss as he was walking down the road with his family and that was pretty cool!
At this point Kevin had stopped the Lyme’s treatment for about 48 hours. He was already feeling much better and we had a lot of fun joking and laughing with my parents.
This was, believe it or not, the first time that we had flown together! It had been a year and a half since I had been on a plane and a little more then a year since Kevin had been on a plane. It was a very surreal feeling being able to travel together. Neither one of us had flown into the Edmonton airport before so that was fun to be able to experience that together for the first time. We had a great flight, they gave us sanitizer wipes to wipe down our area and the pilot gave a funny introduction speech before we left so it was all good. I can tell you one thing that traveling with a husband makes sleeping on a plane much easier! He made a lovely pillow for me.
We called the hotel when we got there and a shuttle came to pick us up after waiting in the cold for a while. When I say cold I mean it! Compered to Ontario before we left for our trip (39 degrees Celsius plus humidity) the 10 degree weather felt VERY cold. We met some fellow Nova Scotians on the shuttle to the hotel that also were there for a wedding but a different wedding then ours. It is a small world isn’t it?
Our hotel was so nice! They upgraded us to a suit with a stove top, fridge, dishes and a huge microwave! We wished that we could take that suit with us but they did not serve hot breakfast so there was a small draw back.
Thursday morning we got picked up by Kevin’s brother and his family in their RV. Their children were happy to have us on board and we soon had fun looking through “I Spy” books together. They dropped us off at a van we could borrow. It was a work van from a friend of a friend of Kevin’s brother….. one of those long chains that you can hardly follow but we were thankful that he had the van that he wanted to give to us, “just replace the wipers. Any money you give I will donate to a charity”. It was a loud thing with winter tires, smells, and shakes but it got us around and we are thankful for this man’s generosity.
We drove the almost two hours to Whitecourt Thursday afternoon and got a motel. It was the last room at the motel and it was not the greatest of motels. We got a room with two double beds, it smelt a little musty and of strong chemicals and the sheets did not fit very well. Needless to say, I did not sleep well Thursday night but we got a hot breakfast at a resteraunt Friday morning so it was worth it.
Whitecourt “Home of the Duvernay”
Another thing that made it worth it was that friends from Nova Scotia were also staying at that same motel. We met up with them for supper Thursday night as well as breakfast Friday morning. We spent several hours just chatting and catching up. They had never seen us together as a couple so it was great meeting them now that we are married.
Friday we packed up our motel and went to Walmart to grab a few things. We took a driving tour around Whitecourt and found a cool museum, the inside was closed but there was some cool artifacts outside that we enjoyed looking at.
A Redwood tree stump turned into a rock at the Forest Interpretive Centre.
The whole purpose of this trip was to take wedding photos. The groom originally helped Kevin get started in photography so it was a great honour for him to shoot this wedding. In the afternoon we met the bride and groom and toured the location they wanted to take their photos at. It was really great to meet them before the wedding day as neither of us had met the bride and I had only met the groom once before. It was easy to connect with them and soon we were chatting like we had known each other for a while! I have learned that this part of shooting weddings I am enjoying very much. Connecting with the bride and helping them with whatever they need.
In the evening we went to the rehearsal. I am so glad we were invited, I wrote a detailed list of the order of what was happening during the ceremony so we could capture everything we possibly could! It is hard to capture everything but knowing what was going to happen next made it easier to get as much as possible. One of the groom’s brothers asked me “why are you carrying around a clip board?” I told him that I needed to make sure we got everything and I needed to write it down in order to remember. Might not be the most traditional but it works for me.
After rehearsal I got to be on aunt duty! Let me tell you I loved every second of it! Getting 8 nieces and nephews after marrying Kevin was very exciting but having all of them live so far away means the perk is not so livable… I got to watch 5 of my nieces and nephews while their parents set up the reception hall. We went for a walk and tried to find lost golf balls. We saw some deer and tried to get as close as we could without scaring them and we rolled down the hills till we got dizzy, like I said, it was a ton of fun!
Friday night we got a different hotel which I am very thankful for! I had a much better night and after another warm breakfast we were ready to go shoot the wedding!
We started at the bride’s house, quickly went to where the groom was getting ready and then back to the bride again. They had a beautiful ceremony in a church by the mountains and then we headed to a golf course for the rest of the photos. I had my first experience with a golf cart during this trip actually! They are a lot of fun but they do not feel too stable. Kevin let me know that they DO tip. The reception was beautiful and the dance after was so much fun, I even got my man to dance with me. We put in over 12 hours at their wedding. Kevin was so tired but he told me “I am not tired because of Lyme disease, I am just tired because I worked hard.” Most of those 12 hours were on our feet running around and making sure everything looked picture perfect. It was an exhausting day but it was so much fun and well worth our trip.
Sunday morning we met up with Kevin’s oldest brother and went to Jasper with them. For the first half of the trip we had two of their children with us and it was very entertaining hearing them chatter away in the back. Jasper was a beautiful town and the mountains were incredible to look at! We went right into the town (well actually we first had to let a train with nearly 200 cars go through) and stopped at a little cafe for something to eat.
The beautiful town of Jasper.
We also stopped at a shallow lake. It was like a giant puddle only about knee deep, the water felt a little cold at first but it was soon nice to wade around in.
Fresh air, fresh water, and the most refreshing views.
We drove back to Edmonton and had a little family reunion with both of Kevin’s brothers and their families. We had supper at a fancy restaurant and enjoyed spending some time together.
We stayed at the same hotel as the brother we went to Jasper with and Monday morning after another hot breakfast we spent some time in the pool and hot tub with him and 2 of his children. It was the perfect way to end our trip.
Flying home it was nice to watch the sunset while flying. Kevin’s sister picked us up from the airport. It was good to be back home but we were anxious about what was coming next.
*Sidenote: the naturopath supported us with taking this one week break and assurred us that it shouldn’t hinder his previous progress.
Kevin started treatment again on Tuesday. He started out with a very small amount but we were not prepared for how hard this would hit him. We expected a crash but not this bad. He has been so incredibly nauseous since starting again that he does not want to eat or drink anything because he knows it will make him feel so bad. I have him drinking water with a peppermint tea bag in it now and that seems to do better then just water. And he only eats very small amounts often, rather then a big meal. But yesterday morning he only ate 8 almonds and it was enough to send him to bed because his stomach got so upset. We have been falling asleep propped up on pillows because he feels to uncomfortable laying flat.
The trip was amazing but coming home has been hard. Kevin felt better then he has felt all year while on the trip (he was able to drive everywhere, sleep and wake up feeling refreshed, and physicaly exhert himself with no bad repercussions the next day) and so it feels very discouraging to feel so low so fast. Please pray for us as we are trying to be patient with this journey. God gave us an amazing trip and it encouraged us that Kevin is healing in the background even though he feels so bad. But it is really hard to continue on if he feels like this.
My theory, and please know this is not medically fact checked or anything this is just my theory, is that while he was off treatment the bacteria thought that it was safe to come out of hiding. Now that he is on treatment again there is so much bacteria that is being killed it is hard for Kevin to eliminate the dead bacteria/toxins fast enough. We know we are fighting for something so we are trying to hold on and stay the course, please pray with us for strength and wisdom to do that.
If you would like to see Kevin’s photography go check his Instagram page where he will be posting more photos.
