This past October marked 30 years of marriage for NDA English teacher Shannon Holmes and her husband Mark.

The couple’s mothers had been friends for a long time. “Our mothers played bridge (cards) in a group together when they were both pregnant with us. We’ve known each other since before birth,” Mrs. Holmes explained. 

They were very close friends growing up but never thought about dating. 

“We were very close friends in high school, but both of us were dating other people,” said Mrs. Holmes.

She added, “We went to the same university, where I’d set him up with other girls who were friends of mine, telling them what a “special” guy he was.  Then my mother pointed out that if I thought he was that ‘special,’ I should be dating him instead of the ‘less-special’ guys I had been dating.”

Mr. and Mrs. Holmes dated for six years before they got married. 

“Mark proposed at a very posh restaurant in our hometown by taking my hand under the table and sliding the ring on as he asked me to marry him,” she shared.

Mrs. Holmes, who is a skating coach, said she coached the restaurant’s owner’s kids.

“When they saw that we got engaged, they brought us a bottle of wine and a special dessert, both that we probably couldn’t have afforded on our own!” described Holmes.

They got married in Mr. Holmes’ Anglican church in their hometown of Napanee, Ontario, Canada. They held their reception at a golf course that Mr. Holmes frequented often while growing up.

Mrs. Holmes described the reception events. “We hired a guy we knew from high school who had just started dj-ing.  He was not good.  He played the ‘Macarena’ four  times!  The kids that were there loved it, but man!”

Mrs. Holmes is very thankful for her entire lifetime spent with her husband. When asked about her favorite memory, she explained that there are just “too many to count.”