Five

As beautiful as ever

I

It doesn't seem that long ago that we moved to Victoria.  A new friend from my department found out that we had just gotten married two weeks before we moved there, and was amazed because we acted like we'd been married forever.  Recently, another friend from the department found out that we've been married for five years and responded, "I had no idea you guys have been married for so long!" 

II

Two weeks ago, Chris and I camped on our way to North Battleford.  Somehow, we seemed to bring rain everywhere we went, and so five minutes before we arrived at our campsite, it started pouring down rain, which didn't stop until half-way through the night.  Setting up a complicated tent in the pouring rain, with cold temperatures more suited to early winter than July: we kept joking that this was our anniversary trip.  It reminded us a little too much of the camping we did for our first anniversary. 

In the morning we were so amused by our horrific hair that we took a self-portrait (seen above), and I promised Chris I'd post it on my blog. 

III

Before we got married, I confess that I fairly regularly mocked the whole "On This Day I Marry My Best Friend" variety of wedding invitations.  My response was usually along the lines of "I wasn't aware that I was marrying Ky." We lived fairly separate lives, frequently lived in separate towns, and had such different interests.

But then Chris and I moved 2000km away from all of our friends and family.  Before we moved, we talked to a few different friends who had done the same, who said the same thing: "It was the best thing for our relationship, even if it was hard to live so far from our family."  And we found that to be true for us: Chris has become my best friend.  (A best friend with whom I have far too many inside jokes and sayings, the origins of which we can't always remember.)  I watch football as a result of him, and he grew his sideburns to look like Mr. Darcy's as a result of me.  The general consensus is that we've each gotten stranger and sillier as a result of marriage.   

IV

Upon reflection, most of our in-jokes are the result of the katrillions of hours we've spent in a car together on road trips, not to mentions All Those Years Before We Had Cable TV.  I keep wondering if I'll someday reach the point where I don't find Chris endlessly entertaining.  It hasn't happened yet.

V

We're going to have a funny anniversary today.  We've been helping Chris's mom with yard work, and now we're going to carve a helmet out of a watermelon for tomorrow's football game.  This evening, we're going to a neat restaurant that serves local and seasonal food, so that Chris can eat wild boar.  This promises to be a good day.