Mark and Vanessa met over a phone call via Travis Field. Travis came to meet his brother Brett in Calgary, who Vanessa had previously met in line one random night at Blondies a few months before. Travis looked at Vanessa and said, "you've gotta meet my friend Mark, you two are perfect for each other.”

Vanessa asked Travis to give more details on this Mark. He started out with, "he's 29." Vanessa being 35, that was red flag #1. Then he mentioned he was a firefighter, red flag #2. And last but not least, "he just got out of a 3 year relationship" well RED FLAG #3!! Travis said, “no no you'll really like him” then showed Vanessa a few pictures. The Man was drop dead gorgeous, so they proceeded to call him. Mark answered (both of them had been drinking) and Travis said, "you've got to talk to this girl.” All Vanessa remembers is laughing for about an hour over the phone.

The following day Vanessa received a text message from ‘Hot Mark Edmonton’. They proceeded to text for a few weeks, and then texts turned to calls. Vanessa remembers having phone dates playing "Would You Rather” and “Never Have I Ever" while she was visiting her family in New Brunswick. All she could think of was “wow this guy is funny”. They would send each other daily selfies- which he was way better at taking them than she was, and good morning/good night messages.

Mark refused to meet Vanessa in person for 3 months until she had to go to Edmonton for meetings in February 2021. She rented an AirBnB where he finally agreed to come and spend a few hours with her. Unfortunately it was Covid, everything was closed and it was also -40 degrees. He toured her around Edmonton and they picked up some baking supplies to keep her busy while he went back to work. Vanessa baked him a carrot cake, cookies, cinnamon buns and cheesecake to bring back to the firehouse.

They had kitchen dance parties and brought down the king size mattress to lay by the fireplace and must have talked about every subject possible. Vanessa thought to herself, "wow he's my soulmate". She left that weekend head over heels but unfortunately Mark didn't feel the same way. For the next 4 months she still kept chasing him even though he would say he didn't want a girlfriend; in hopes one day he would realize we were perfect for each other. She was able to convince him to visit her in Calgary a few times where they went hiking, golfing, had many more kitchen dance parties and tried to make him fall in love with her.

Fast forward to June 2021, Mark planned a 10 day mountain getaway where he hopped from Kananaskis to Banff to Lake Louise to Jasper and FINALLY told her he was falling for her TOO!!!! He moved to Calgary in October where Vanessa proceeded to give him the stomach flu and well the rest is history :)

It started out as a fun filled night on the streets of Whyte Avenue in Edmonton. Me and my good friends Mike and Derek were out spreading some small-town farm boy charm at a couple of our favorite bars downtown. We were missing one key ingredient to the night though, which was my best friend Travis Field, AKA the Baloney Boy.

Trav who is usually side by side with us was out of town in Calgary visiting his brother Brett for the weekend. The night went on and it was time to stumble home. Mike, Derek and I continued our ritual and picked up some food at a local gas station before heading home.

Moments later I’m lying on the couch about to fall asleep while watching a movie and I noticed my phone buzzing on the coffee table, I was wondering who the hell would be calling me this late, sure enough it was my partner in crime Travis, I figured this must be good if he’s calling me at this time of the night. So, I answer the phone and hear some music and voices in the background of his call and the first thing Trav says to me is “MCINROY YOU’VE GOT TO MEET THIS CHICK MAN! HER NAME IS VANESSA.’’

So Trav hands the phone to her and all I can remember is a bunch of laughing and that was the end of the call. Come morning time I wake up to a text on my phone from a random number, it was Vanessa.

From there Vanessa and I started talking more and more, I didn’t want to start a relationship anytime soon, so I stayed a little distant, but that did not stop her, she wasn’t giving up on me.

Vanessa would make multiple trips to come see me. I remember the first time we met in person, Vanessa said she had a work event in Edmonton and was going to rent an Airbnb for the weekend and said I should come see her while she is in town. Sure enough we met for the first time, I remember I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. I remember it being one of the coldest weekends of the winter, so we made the best of it and dragged the mattress downstairs Infront of the fireplace and the watched movies. I injured my back dragging that stupid king-sized mattress downstairs, but it was worth it. We had kitchen dance parties and ill never forget Vanessa baking me carrot cake, cinnamon buns, doughnuts and cookies. She was really finding her way to my heart, especially when I showed up one morning and she answered the door wearing just underwear. Turns out Vanessa didn’t have a work event in Edmonton that weekend, she just really wanted a weekend with me to show how amazing she truly is.

I then started to travel to Calgary to visit her, we started hiking and doing all kinds of fun stuff together. One night while I was at work I remember sitting down and thinking about Vanessa, I couldn’t get her off my mind, then a light bulb flicked on in my brain and I came to the realization that my dream girl is right in front of me, what the hell am I doing!?

She is everything I’ve always wanted, and I want her to be mine. I went out and vented to the boys that I’m actually falling for this girl and I want to be with her, I was so happy. I opened my heart to Vanessa, and I couldn’t imagine life without her. And from there, the Adventures of Mark & V have began.