Now we are 12!

12 years goes very quickly and it turns out that on the 4th March, Levor and I had been married for 12 years. Our wedding anniversaries are pretty much always a disaster because one of us gets sick or something, so we know not to try celebrating on the actual date. True to form, I was sick on the 4th, so we celebrated last Sunday and had a most excellent day.

We went to Bundeena and had a picnic on the beach, and then climbed up through the bush to the cliffs which overlook the ocean. And there we sat and watched the waves crash and the wind whip the water and toss the boats. It was good.

Then we went home and rehydrated (it was hot!), and walked over to the park near us where the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was playing for free. It was so hot they had to start an hour late (to preserve the expensive violins from the heat, apparently). We were worried it would be trashy classical music, but it was robust stuff (including the Lark's Ascension by Williams) and they played really well. We sat on the grass and shared cheese and port as the sun set and the air cooled. The ants were pretty happy about the cheese as well, so it was good that we could provide added protein for their diet at the same time.

It's a good surprise to be married for this long. The stats said we'd only make 4 years, so to get this far is humbling and makes me very grateful. And we've lived 2/3rds of our married life in Sydney, which is unexpected. And given we're in our early thirties, we've been married about 1/3rd of our lives, so I expect we are now completely different people to when we were married, having influenced each other for that long. Marriage is such a big thing, in this regard - you really hand yourself over to someone and risk all your emotional space for them, and take on their hurts and triumphs and sorrows and you can't remember where you stop and they start sometimes. I think if I'd realised how big it was 12 years ago I would have been too scared to say 'I do'.

But it still feels like no time at all! So, I'm glad that being married is for a lifetime because even a bit over a decade doesn't feel like long enough. Or maybe I'm just sentimental about Levor, whose company is so enjoyable and who is, on some days the only sane person in the world.