Hello

Duby and I met over 40 years ago, in the early 80's, in Edmonton Alberta.  We were young, poor, had lots of difficulties, past trauma we kept hidden on both sides, but fell in love in moments despite it all .We struggled to make ends meet, just like so many other kids on the street that have no one to turn to.  We were so poor that I used gold wrapping from chocolate dollars to make our wedding rings, but we were happy.  Things do not matter as much as what's in your heart.  

 

We had a rough go of it, with children dying, in-law and extended family fighting, hate and manipulation surrounding us, but it's ok because our focus in life grew to be what we could do with what we learned from each hard step, not "oh woa are we in misery", so that each pain became a building stone that formed the foundation of our relationship and our future lives and growing love.

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After a life of jobs just to put food on the table, then service to humanity, then working for "the system" and the consequences of the same, we settled down,  We took the time to reflect, and in doing so happened to look at our roots--several decades AFTER we had met.. We had lost one child years ago where a doctor said she died because we "must be related", but to us, that was impossible, I was a Crown Ward raised by the government and what ancestors I knew of dated back in Canada to 1727; she was an Eastern Block  Cold War immigrant!   So we took the time to do some research.  Low an behold...we might be related WAY back!? My roots take me back to Scotland and Ireland on my biological mother's side, and to Salzburg/Durrnberg Austria on my biological father's side, where Scottish Miner's were said to have been brought right around the time my ancestral line gets lost, both sides thus having strong Celtic roots going back, known, to the late 1400's and earlier.. Dubravca's roots are from behind the Iron Curtain near the Baltic Sea, but it turns out that they are deeply Celtic! The are even Gaelic names for the places near where she comes from, and Celtic, Norse culture is found everywhere there all the way through Slavic country! It turns out all of our ancestors were very much Celts and Gaels!

 

It turns out that in all our lives trying to build something, building apart, then building together, we had never had a chance to deeply discuss the most important things in life.  We never knew  our faith systems were so very similar, but called something else because of the history and corruptions of denominationalism..  We found that we both focused on life and spirit more than temples and other "things." We have decided that we needed to work at living a life and being content with what we have.  We have chosen to live accordingly. No more chasing the almighty dollar, no more climbing corporate ladders.  We retired; we are relatively comfortable.  We keep a little chapel in our home and welcome Celtic Christians, (and others interested), to come stay a while and study in the winter., But in the summer, we hit the road with our event tents searching for Celtic Festivals and a place to share our handcrafts and in our ancestral culture.  So that's us., We are not survivors but thrivers. We do not wallow in the past, but live and enjoy life as it happens.  We are nomads when its green out, home-bodies on the frozen prairies for the winters.  We live to enjoy our lives together while we can.. If you would care to walk with us for a bit, pick a path from the links above and feel free to share something from any of our tables.  You are more than welcome.