Today is our 20th wedding anniversary. We met at the Boss’s brother’s wedding. He married an old school friend of mine. She and I met on our first day at boarding school on 16th September 1973… and now we are sisters in law.
The Boss proposed four weeks after we first met. As I was living and working in Sussex and he was living and working in Glasgow that means we had only met three times before he proposed. I knew he would propose that weekend. I told Chrissie, with whom I then shared an office at Sightsavers that I knew he would propose that weekend. She laughed but laughed again on Monday when I told he had and I had accepted.
So twenty years and three children later we are in Australia and have had the most wonderful laid back day. We travelled up to Nimbin;
ate samosas in the park in the craft market and listened the music; drank margaritas at The Balcony
and watched the world wander by; had stupendous burrundi and chips at The Fish Head
and listened to the drummers on the beach; lay on the beach whilst I taught the Boss the little I knew of the southern hemisphere constellations (the Southern Cross and the Keel); watched the fire dancers; wandered back to the market and bought our daughters a present and came back to our apartment for a glass of wine and some good music.
What do I want now? Not a lot. I am going home with a drive to divest myself of more stuff I don’t need or want. I am going home with a desire to do what we want to whilst we can. I am going home with a wish to instill in my children that life only happens once. I can honestly say with my hand on my heart that if my daughters said they wanted to buy a bakkie (hello my SA friends 🙂 ) and just cruise around until they ran out of money or decided what they wanted to do with their lives then I would be happy with that. We only have one shot at this life, why should it be something that other people think it should be?
one pair of shoes at a time 
Gillian, sounds like a month away and 10,000kms has given you some perspective. Happy Anniversary to the two of you.
Carol I have learned to become the person I was 35 years ago and more importantly learned to listen to the people my daughters are.x
Amen! This is what I try to communicate with my children. Homeschooling allows me more time to brainwash them properly on the important things in life. =-) Glad to hear your anniversary was enjoyable.
It sounds like your children will grow up to be a lot happier and well balanced than many 🙂
That is a delightful little tidbit about you and The Boss, and how you first got together. Sometimes you just know. Whilst Jess and I didm;t get engaged that quickly (we got engaged one year after we first met), I definitely knew quite quickly that she was the one.
And I think the view you have in regard to your children is wonderful, and I hope they have a wonderful life, no matter where it takes them.
When we announced our engagement at Christmas we had to brave all the people that said it was a bit sudden 🙂
Congratulations on your wedding anniversary but also on your conclusions 🙂 🙂 🙂
We are looking at 30 yrs next winter and a silver wedding anniversary next year – with pleasure not pressure LOL It makes me happy to hear that people are sticking with their partners!! x
Sometimes we wonder if we stick together because we don’t want to upset two other people 🙂 More seriously I can’t imagine life any other way or with anyone else. Which is a pretty good way to feel I think.
Gille, a delightful story and glimpse. Happy Anniversary, happy life. Your posts leaves me smiling. And thank you for the visit and for your great comments, and letting me know we are walking the same journey.