It was a little after the last bar that it happened.
It was 2006 in London, just before the part where I took a right to cross The Strand, and they went left to get to Embankment Station to get over to Waterloo Station before the last train left for Walton-on-Thames. A birthday dinner and some chatter, a Scottish whiskey bar, and more conversation. It was after four years of friendship. Lives change. People change. Magic happens.
We have indeed learned so much together in 16 years. Wow. 16 years. Where has the time gone?
Nearly 3 of it spent in our first global disaster. Yes, folks, it has been a global disaster that we are still adapting to in trying to understand how these types of things impact us.
What you want is someone who you can trust to walk with you through these types of things. He can. He does. I hope I can do the same for him. Have I filled the shoes? I worry that I am not doing that very well, at times. I am a good bit older and wiser now, and find that the more that I know, the more I discover I don’t know!
It’s the right brain-left brain thing. Let’s be real. I am slightly more left brained than I am right brained, but that right brain is ferocious sometimes, when under stress, and I am a creative thinker! What was that the lady said to me when she was doing that test that time? “You never stop thinking, do you?” Funny, then not so much.
Yes, I am hyper-analytical, but also, probably pretty much in the boat of being fearful and anxious when something totally unexpected and foreign comes up. I think I fall into the boat of those who study a new thing and get less anxious about it, the more I learn and know about its perils and dangers, and how to mitigate risk. Likely, I do also fall into the risk-averse camp, but as long as I know the risk, and what to do, I’m cool with it.
Thank God for my soul mate, who thinks of most everything when there is some sort of threat to our survival. A graduate of Outward Bound in NZ, he learned how to survive in the wilderness.
I am experience-taught, mostly. My hardening has been a combination of self-inflicted introductions to new environments, trial-and-error episodes, and being found, suddenly, in those situations that are often the topics of many movies, stories, documentaries, and so forth. What do you do?
Understand that God gives us the gifts of people in our lives. No two are alike. My tapestry includes many relationships with people – friendships, romantic relationships, business relationships and friendships, neighbors, others who you meet, sometimes just conversations on an airplane, during a long haul flight – you may never see them again, or you may end up being married to them, which in this case, the December 11, 2006 magical moment led to that.
He has the best kindest most thoughtful heart and soul. My thing is that I need to shut-up and listen to him, which I try to do. There is a lot of yin and yang that we have to do, to try to balance, at times. It gets gnarly, sometimes. I am an annoying questioner. Don’t get me wrong, please! I am not criticizing – I am just confused! The older I get, the more clarification I need!
I’m always working on improving. I really am. Relationships are 50/50 and I need to remember that. He is the absolute love of my life and as we go through life together, there is always the unexpected we face, 100% of the time, we can’t kid ourselves. There is no normal, and I am grateful for him, that he has given me the balance I often need!
