Decade

Ten years ago, I married my love. The big Love who helped start this whole clan of little Loves. Ten years. Wowzers.

Oh, and what a ride it’s been. A few bumps in the road here and there, but mostly good. I think we lead a pretty blessed life and the bumps have just helped us cement the fact that we want to be sharing this adventure together. A lot of adventures have been had in ten years and I hope there are many left to come.

To mark this momentous occasion, I thought I would avoid getting too soppy and share the story of how we met. Or should I say stories. Not all of us (ie. Ben) remember it as a lightning bolt… thankfully I wore him down over time, so he remembers the second time we met. Persistence is a virtue.

The year was 2001 and I was working in the city. One day I was working away at my little desk and out of the elevator onto Level 21 walked Ben Love. Now, this wasn’t the first time Ben and I had seen each other. When I was at uni I had been to a marketing lecture and a handsome young man with curly hair and an earring sat near my friends and I and offered us gummy bear lollies. We only went to a few lectures together, but I thought he was kinda cute. I ran into him elsewhere at uni and he was stressing about the upcoming marketing exam, so I decided I would help him out by sending him some study notes. I even remember my sister asking why I was spending such an inordinate amount of time on these marketing notes. As it turns out, Ben Love has absolutely no recollection of these notes, or me, at all but obviously the Universe was beginning to conspire.

So when Ben Love crossed my path again on level 21 of the AMP tower in Eagle Street, I knew who he was and my heart skipped a beat every time I saw him around the city. One day, I decided that I needed to be brave. Do you know the saying ‘Dance like nobody’s watching, love like you’ve never been hurt’, etc? Well, I went to the local florist and ordered a small arrangement of flowers and, attached a card that said ‘I thought it was a good day to dance like nobody’s watching’ and had them sent to him anonymously at work.  That was a Friday.

On the following Monday, I sent another card with the full ‘Dance, Love, Sing, Live’ saying on the front and said something along the lines of ‘If you’d like to have a drink or coffee sometime, this is my phone number and email address. If not, hope a random stranger sending you flowers brightened your day.’ I received an email from him later that day and we went out for a drink that night. I’d like to say that it was love at second sight and the rest is history, but he thought I was incredibly nervous and neurotic (not surprisingly) and it was a one date wonder. However, it was the start of a good friendship, which blossomed over time.

After being together for 18 months, Ben proposed (and I said yes, obviously) and about four months after that, we got married – on 17 May, 2003. The ‘Dance, Love, Sing, Live’ saying featured as the theme of our wedding and it was a beautiful day as we declared our love in front of our beloved family and friends.

I’m pretty proud of the ’10 years’ milestone. This marriage business isn’t always easy and we do drive each other crazy on occasions, but we’ve managed to travel together, live on an island together, start a business and work together, buy our first home together and have three babies together… and we still like each other – a good sign, I think. (We might see how we go in our first round of renovations together later in the year…)

Thank you, my love, for a cracker first decade. So much good stuff yet to come. Love you to the moon and back x

Photo credit for the wedding photography to the fabulous TWK Studios