10 years on


Friday was Big-P and my 5th Wedding Anniversary, which means we have now been together for 10 years.

A lovely ten years that feels like it has gone by in a heart beat as well as feeling as though we have been together forever – as these things go.

About this time of year 10 years ago I had a big crush on a nice Canadian boy called Phil who had been introduced to me by an old friend and housemate who thought we might hit it off. We met and smiled at one another and my crush began. After a few weeks, and an initial flash of excitement on all sides, our mutual friend was trying to test out how keen I really was on this new boy. He said to me, “You know, he wears socks with his sandals.” and waited for my reaction. But I was not to be deterred plus I realised the sandals he was talking about were Birkenstocks which were very cool c. 1996, and also I was busy thinking “How Canadian! Socks with Birkenstocks! That’s how you have to wear sandals in cold climates!”, as anything remotely Canadian connected to Big-P seemed quite exotic. So I told him this wasn’t a problem, not at all. I was unshaken.

Then he went on to tell me that he was an enormous computer nerd, spending hours and hours in front of the computer at the expense of other bits of life. Nor did I see this to be a problem. In fact a very early get together was when Big-P set up my new computer for me and it was incredibly buzzy (if you know what I mean) to have Big-P being all manly and nerdy and computery just for me. I like nerds. Nerds are nice. If the internet was anything like it is now back then I am sure we would have been doing huge amounts of flirting over instant messenger.

So our mutual friend plowed on. He told me that Big-P wore enormously huge thick glasses when he was working at his computer. I later discovered that this wasn’t particularly true (at all), but something that our mutual friend fabricated to test my crush level. Never-the-less even when I thought it might be so, I was truly gah-gah. I couldn’t help but think how wonderful it was that this gorgeous boy with the sensational eye-lashes was obviously totally unconcerned with fashion and image and wore socks with sandals and an enormous pair of thick glasses. He was getting more and more perfect. And then our mutual friend said “and he has a tattoo” – No problem! – so he added “of a huge tiger – right across his back!” — “woooah!” I thought. How exotically Canadian he is, and how nerdy he is – and how weird (and a a bit tacky) too! An enormous tiger tattoo! Of course the tiger tattoo was also just a bit made up. Big-P does have a tattoo but unfortunately nothing so extreme as an enormous tiger.

Our mutual friend did a very good job of throwing us together. On one very memorable occasion, which has become part of our early relationship mythology, both our mutual friend and Big-P “happened” to turn up to a date I was on with another of our mutual friends — and Big-P happened to do a lot of accidental knee bumping with me under the table and then our friend drove us all home, dropping my date off first. It was sabotage! It worked!

Thank you, old mutual friend, who we have lost touch with more or less over these years, but what an important part of us he is – and I am very grateful. And finally Big-P and I were established as housemates and best mates. It was all very easy. That’s the nicest thing – it’s all been very easy doing this life thing with Big-P. Even the tough bits are much better for him being here. Love ya Phil. Here’s to another bunch of years.

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48 Responses

  1. I’m smiling. My best to you and your family Claire.

  2. Congrats and Happy Anniversary to you guys! This post reminds me so much of how I met husband.

  3. Congratulations on the 10th Anniversary!
    I really love reading the love story behind any anniversaries. Most are funny, touchy, and of course, lovely, just like yours…

    πŸ˜€

  4. I love your personal posts. This one made me laugh. That frisson of excitement when you first bump knees. I can still feel it now…Happy anniversary.

  5. Congratulations on 10 years together you two… crazy über nerds! Seriously, what a team. Now, will the old mutual friend please come forward, we have gifts to bestow upon you.

  6. Congratulations! What a lovely story. Here’s to many more years of you together as a happy family.

  7. What a sweet, sweet love story you have. I hope your anniversary is very special, with your beautiful family of four!

  8. Ha. What a great story. Here’s to many more, eh?

  9. aww, this made me a little misty…happy anniversary to you and big p!

  10. A toast to this joy! (Living in Toronto, I must agree that nerdy Canadian boys are ever so lovely!)

  11. Congratulations!
    Wow! I can’t believe it’s been so long… if memory serves, I started commenting on your site around the time you two got married.

    : )

  12. Congratulations!! I know that those canadians are hard to resist *smile*
    Have a wonderful weekend and a delightful anniversary!!

  13. Awww! How cute! How sweet! That mutual friend was a terrific person indeed.

  14. Happy Anniversary! I married my own computer guy four years ago this past thursday. In-house tech support is definitely one of the *fuzzies*.

  15. aww, sweet story…congrats on the 10 years together!

  16. Wow 10 years – now that is something to celebrate πŸ™‚

  17. congratulations πŸ™‚ here’s to another wonderful bunch of years.
    you guys are the cutest. πŸ™‚

  18. how freaky – it was my 5 yr anniversary too!! and we’ll be 10 years together next May. hope you had a fab day

  19. aw i love “how did you get together” stories. this is a great one. I went to live in Canada for a year cause I thought Canadian boys were so cute with their “aboot the hoose” and socks and sandals and fantastic skiing abilities (exotic for a girl from Brissie). And ended up with a Kiwi boy. Ah.

  20. Happy Anniversary Guys! Great Post! Brought back lots of memories of the first year with my husband!

  21. That’s awesome! My wife and I celebrated 10 years together in January, and our 5th wedding anniversary this August. AND we met when we were in Australia, though we both live in the States… This world, it’s small.

  22. anolefriend@olesouls.com says:

    Congrats, life has gone by so fast for all. Keep having fun and being the cool person you are. I remember talk about Big P with you, Dave and some beers in Bell St Fitzroy, when he went to Canada for the first time, and it was obvious then you had something special – all the best for the future.

  23. ohhh swoooooooon! lovely story. and happy, haaaapppyyy anniversary πŸ™‚

  24. congratulations on 10 years together!! He sounds fantastic, love how you liked his nerdyness more and more, fab little story.

  25. That’s incredible, we also share the exact same wedding anniversary… and this Friday (Sept. 11) also marked our 10 years together, 5 years married. Wow!
    To many more happy years together…Cheers! πŸ™‚

  26. Lovely !
    Thanks for sharing .. you sound blissfully in love πŸ˜‰

  27. gardenhoe8@rogers.com says:

    what a lovely lovely story.just what I needed today. As a canadian( I think at heart we canadians are all nerds really), who is married to a tech nerd(our 5th anniv. is next week) this post was strangely simular to our meeting and eventual ‘hook up’.sweet and wonderful. congratulations and cheers to many many more years.

  28. Awww, what a wonderful whimsical tale of how you met. I enjoyed reading that immensely and I wish you and your family endless happy years together!
    Congratulations on the big one-oh.

  29. Congrats to both of you. Liked the way you described the 1st part -first meet. Hope to read more .
    Wishes

  30. aww.. =) to many many more years tog and happy anniversary you guys!

  31. That’s so sweet! Happy Anniversary!

  32. congratulations C and Big-P! vive les nerds! and their lovely daughters– long live Loobylu & Kiddley, too!

  33. Thanks so for sharing how you met – I love happy endings! Congrats to you!

  34. Congratulations.
    Did I spy a post from the “ole friend”?

  35. I heart nerds too. Happy Anniversary.

  36. what an accomplishment, claire! congratulations!

  37. Congratulations!:D what a wonderful post!

  38. Happy happy happy days – big buckets of love to both you crazy kids.
    p.s. Come on, tell…Where’s the tat?

  39. Congratulations! we also share the same 5& 10 year anniversaries! only my Mr P wore black socks with white sneakers!!!Lots of spring joy to your family.

  40. info@jamilawhite.com says:

    Wow, what a great story. Happy Anniversary! Love live Claire and Big P! And Amelia and Lily!

  41. aw!thanks for sharing-
    πŸ™‚

  42. peta_les@hotmail.com says:

    Happy anniversary guys! PB

  43. Well, if you ever have a line on another gorgeous, nerdy Canadian man… let me know.

  44. That was fun and nice and made me laugh. He sounds like an absolute dream. Both of you do.
    It’s going to be ten years for us, too, coming up in the next couple weeks. I didn’t start out with a crush, but fairly quickly was madly in love anyway. It’s been easy for us too for the most part and I feel like the luckiest person on earth. I try to put up my birth stories on the kids’ birthdays; reading this make me realize this is the perfect time to put up a love story too. Thanks.