Sometimes setups go horribly wrong and sometimes they lead to love, marriage and children. Michelle Bontius’s set-up with her husband Mark fell into the latter category as they are now happily married with three kids: 11-year-old Alyssa, 8-year-old Liam and 5-year-old Logan.
“[We were] set up through a friend,” said Mark. “I told her I wanted to get married the night we met and when she told her mom she said, ‘Yep! You’re going to marry him.’”
Michelle was born in Mississauga to her parents Tom and Eileen. She now teaches Grade 1 at St. Benedict’s Elementary School educating today’s youth, but she can also be found teaching her family life lessons at home, especially as a mother.
“[She] always puts her kids first, never taking any time for herself. [She] is a hard-working, great mom,” said Mark. “She toils nonstop for her family and needs some time for herself but says she would rather be with her kids.”
Clearly, Michelle is an unbelievably selfless mother, who is always there for her family, but she remarkably makes time for her own hobbies as well. Even in her spare time, Michelle continues elevating others as a Girl Guide Group Leader and also enjoys exercise and walking when she’s on her own.
Even though she always makes time for her kids, Michelle has a wonderful marriage to Mark filled with memories. One of their favorite memories was a trip to warm and sunny Hawaii as they celebrated their 10th anniversary together.
The couple have a special kind of love where they can turn moments that aren’t so great into hilarious memories that last forever. An example of this is when the two went on a trip for their first anniversary where they ended up in a dingy motel as a case of pinkeye ransacked their trip. It may have stunk at the time, but the couple now looks back on the experience as a hilarious memory.
All these years later, Michelle keeps Mark grounded and has taught him to how to give and receive love better. As the couple celebrate Mother’s Day 2023 with their kids Mark wants Michelle to know that she is deeply loved by her entire family from the bottom of their hearts.
With many wonderful memories and many more to come, it’s safe to say that this is the story of a set up gone right.