This is not the type of love story you'll ever see Hollywood write a movie about... but they should.

She was a self-admitted small-town "hayseed" who grew up in and around Esterhazy.

He was a farm boy from western Manitoba.

They met in the early 1970s.  She moved to Dauphin, Manitoba, where a number of her sisters had settled down and started families.  He grew up around Rorketon - not far down the road.

I've never heard the full story on how they first met... and I've always wanted to know how he worked up the courage to ask her out on a first date.

But I know alot about how they spent their time together.  They both worked hard -- in fact, they pretty much spent their 20s with their noses to the grindstone to earn in a week as much money as I now make in a day.

She'd be working long shifts as a waitress at a local restaurant... he'd hang around and help her out where he could.  He'd haul fuel, and she'd tag along for a ride. 

They'd spend long winter nights playing cards with his parents, and summers out and about with her nieces and nephews.

Much like how their first date is a fuzzy detail, so is story of how he proposed to her.  He's yet to tell how it happened.  (He keeps saying that it was her who proposed to him... that's when she slaps him and tells him he shouldn't be telling people such things.  He laughs playfully.)

Then, on September 6th, 1975, they tied the knot.  I've seen the pictures... it was a big swanky affair.  He wore a white tuxedo, and she was a tiny princess in a white dress.  As the story goes, there were three sittings for dinner.  The people just kept coming... and coming... and coming.  I could only imagine to go to a wedding that big today.

33 years later, they still love each other very much -- and unlike so many of their generation, they are still happily married.

It's a milestone that has taken hard work and true love to accomplish... but it is one I'm glad they're celebrating this weekend.

Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad.