When you're in your early twenties you make questionable choices. I made a few myself, like cutting my hair really short...on a whim...by a barber. And bribing an airport official because I didn't want to pay the overweight charge (for the bag, not for me).
But at 24yrs I made the most questionable choice of all. I said "for better or worse" knowing full well it would never be until "death do us part". What parted us was total insecurity (me) and a complete libertine (him). While my insecurities were not misplaced, the idea of being a divorcee before my thirtieth was something I was, and never will be, proud of.
But it led me here, to where I am now.
Seven years ago, on a sunny winters day, I met the love of my life. Some days stay etched in your memory forever and 09/02/07 is one of those days for me. The bar (Chopper Lump) that we agreed to meet at no longer exists. We went back there a few years later, before we got married and before it closed down, to daydream about going back there in our 50's with our brood. I still remember what I wore on our first date (jeans and a three quarter sleeved red pullover from Warehouse) I still have the necklace I wore as it's been my good-luck charm ever since (an oversized heart locket).
The first thing I noticed were his eyes (sharp blue) and the way he spoke to the barman (respectfully). He told jokes that were actually funny and he was genuinely interested in what I had to say. I liked him right away. And told him so the next day.
The guise of I just "wanted us to be good friends" lasted exactly one week when we started making out like a couple of teenagers under the London Eye. And again at Waterloo Station. Good friends don't do things like that!
By our fourth date, with him sitting across from me in his blue Aca Joe polo shirt at The Real Greek, I knew we'd have children together. Obviously I didn't share this revelation with him as that would've killed the mood and/or made him choke on a stuffed vine leaf. But I knew. He was it. Him telling me he didn't enjoying watching sport sealed the deal. Although he did admit if he were to watch anything sports related it would be a female hockey tournament, a joke that I didn't get until he explained it to me ("twenty two woman in short skirts running around, what's not to like?").
Someone wise once told me that your partner in life should be your best accessory. You should never be embarrassed to be seen out in public with him or her. Your partner in life is the person who brings out the very best in you. Who loves you for you and doesn't try to alter or change you in any way. Your partner in life should remain timeless. They're not put on this earth to make you happy, but you're happy, nonetheless, just being in their company. And most importantly, you're able to be 100% yourself. If you have a partner in life like this...hold onto them and count yourself blessed.
Seven years ago today, I had no idea I was about to meet the man who would become my partner in life, but I knew, pretty darn quickly, that he was (still is) infinitely special and unique. It took me a move abroad, a divorce and twenty seven years to find him, but as they say "better late than never".
As we sat in our London flat this past Friday night, holding our baby boy who is exactly three months old today, surveying the carnage of moving boxes stacked ceiling height, we congratulated ourselves on having made it this far and it honestly feels like this is just the beginning.
When you become a parent (unfortunately only a parent will understand what I mean by this) you will change the course of your life, turn it upside down and give it a good shake, all for the sake of someone else. A tiny-human who doesn't even measure a foot tall yet and has no-idea what is going on! The only change he may have noticed is that the 47' TV has gone and left behind a baby 27'.
You will leave all the friends you have made, a job that you love, the home you have built and start all over again, just so that your child can have a childhood that slightly resembled your own. You will leave your best friend behind, knowing it's okay because she happens to be your sister. And we're bound together forever; oceans and miles are no matter when it comes to the bond between sisters. But it's still painfully hard and heartbreaking. It will always be so.
When you're a parent you become a lot less shellfish and a lot more selfless. And you never appreciate the sacrifices your parents made for you until you start making them yourself, for the sake of your own child. Who in turn won't appreciate it and will one day hate us both because we ruined his chances of becoming a professional premier league footballer or some other arbitrary reason!
So here we are; seven years later with a three month old baby boy, with 50 boxes on a boat back to our motherland and two foreigners eagerly awaiting our departure in two and bit weeks so that they can make our old home their new one.
I wonder what the next seven years will bring...besides a 7yr old boy who wants to pursue his dream of becoming a whatya-ma-call-it.
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| The first selfie of us...taken in April 2007 |
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| Who would've thought hey... |
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