Engaged!

My younger brother Matt just got engaged today! I am very excited for him, because this journey has been long and rather dramatic.

I won't get into details, but Matt met Mercedes at a birthday party for my grandma five years ago. Mercedes was living at my uncle and aunt's place, as a university exchange student from Monterrey, Mexico. Admittedly, I could tell right away that they would hit it off! Matt hadn't dated much, but Mercedes was fun and bold and outgoing, and who could resist the Spanish accent?! She needed someone to show her around Winnipeg and Matt happily volunteered, and the rest is mostly history. They dated long distance for months, years actually. They saw each other for brief snippets of time in between, but never more than a few months - when Matt when out there to teach English, and for a few months when Mercedes lived in Calgary. Things didn't go smoothly for Mercedes in Calgary, and what ended up happening was that she and Matt broke up and she went back home to Mexico.

After a few months apart, they started to rekindle the relationship. Again long distance dating, they decided they had to talk face-to-face, and met half-way in McLaren, Texas for a weekend. It was obvious after they returned to their separate homes that something had changed, and that there was a future there that we hadn't seen clearly before. Now, only a few short months later, Matt and Mercedes MSN'd us from her home in Monterrey today to tell us they are engaged!

The wedding will be in Mexico next March, and we are SO excited! Mercedes has three sisters (one being her fraternal twin!), but seeing as I only have one sister-in-law, I am so happy to add another. We have lots of "getting to know" each other ahead, but it will be nice to know that Matt won't be alone in Calgary much longer. We love you Matt and Mercedes! Congratulations!