I know it’s been a long time since I posted – this year has been very up and down. But how could I not make the effort to tell you the story of how we met?
Once upon a time, back in the dark ages (1988), I was in the chorus of an amateur musical – Man of Steel. Guy Fawkes night (5th November) was a Saturday night and the leading lady invited us all to a party at her house.
Only people from the UK or other “Colonials” will know about Guy Fawkes night. Everybody else probably thinks it’s very odd to celebrate the attempt by a group of dissatisfied citizens to blow up Parliament. Though actually, when I say it like that, it doesn’t sound that unreasonable.
It was a fancy dress party (weren’t they all, in the 80s?) and I went along as Ayla from Clan of The Cave Bear, accompanied by my flatmate, John, and a girlfriend, Anne.
We were first there and sat around a bit awkwardly, while Alison and her flatmate whizzed around finishing things off. The next people to arrive were a group of three guys – two rather loud individuals in costume, and one quieter one at the back, not in costume.
One of the loud ones was waving a water “rifle” around and decided to use it. When he pointed it at me, I warned him off. Did he listen? No, he did not. But I don’t make idle threats. The moment I threw my glass of wine over his obnoxious friend was the moment @sift666 fell for me.
Even @sift666’s photo editing skills couldn’t do a lot with this one!
The rather wet friend decided to leave me be after that and pulled Anne up to dance. The other loud one got me up to dance, and the quiet one joined us. At the end of the song, the loud one walked off, leaving me standing next to his quiet friend, who I looked at properly for the first time. I looked up, (and up, and up) and finally saw this curly haired lad smiling down at me. That’s the moment I fell for him.
We spent the rest of the evening talking. We missed the fireworks that everybody else went outside to let off, because we were, um, talking. When my flatmate came to say he and Anne were heading off, @sift666 quickly offered to take me home, and we stayed a while longer. Later on, in my kitchen, we still kept talking.
I think that’s when I knew that despite me being 30 and him being 21, which for all manner of reasons should not have worked, this was going to be a thing.
Yes, @sift666 had hair once!
Since my longest relationship up to then had been two years, I never in my wildest dreams imagined being with somebody for 29 years. But as most of you know, @sift666 is not your average dude. We’ve had many adventures, been through a lot, driven each other crazy like all couples do, but we still belong together.
Our anniversary being Guy Fawkes Day, the City Council always puts on a firework display in our honour – at least that’s what we like to say. Sadly, the new mayor has decided it’s better to spend the Council fireworks budget to celebrate Matariki (Maori New Year) than an antiquated English custom. I can see his point, but being a youngster he won’t remember the fires and injuries that traditionally took place on Guy Fawkes night. Sigh.
They “Saturday-ised” the Sky Show this year, so last night we went out to our last Anniversary fireworks. It was blowing a gale and freezing cold, despite being nearly summer, but was worth it.
Today, the sun is shining, and we are off to lunch soon at our favourite spot – The Larder, in Miramar. Happy Anniversary to us!
Yesterday @sarahewaring said she hoped our story is more romantic than hers. Is it? I don’t know if it’s a romantic story or not, but it’s the start of OUR story. Or maybe it’s just my story about our story…
Thanks for reading
Photos by myself, @sift666 or from Pixabay, unless otherwise stated.
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