Wow, has it really been 25 years . . . .

Wow, April 1, 1986 I decided to go play volleyball in Milton with some friends. I had just recently come out of a 2 year relationship, but i was still young, only 20. So I was up for anything . . including playing volleyball with a bunch of friends. Well that night changed the rest of my life.

Just before the start of the game, i was introduced to a long haired, blue eyed, handsome man . . . . that was wearing an Ozzy Osbourne cut off shirt and cut off jeans . . . . first thought that came to my mind was 'stoner'. I could not have been more wrong. This young man made my heart skip a wee bit. His eyes took you right in, his smile made you melt, and he seemed like he was everyone's best friend. We chatted and laughed, and i think flirted a bit. And at the end of the night we went our separate ways, both promising to see each other the following week.

Little did I know that he went home that night and told his mum that he had just met the woman he was going to marry - and that would have been me!

Well, I didn't make it the next week, and apparently he kept watching the door in case i showed up. I was scared of the immediate feelings that I had for him - thought it was all about rebound. I think i deliberately didn't show up due to those feelings. But I managed to find out quite a lot about him during that week . . . i know that he worked really hard to help his mum out, that he never stayed behind after volleyball, or went for a beer to the Milton Optimist Club, cos he had to be at work at 5am.

So I show up the following Tuesday, and the moment i saw him my tummy flipped over. What the hell was this feeling? Why was i all tingly? So we laughed and talked all night, and then I asked him if he was going to come for a beer. Straight away he said yes, and we closed the joint . . .we were still sitting there talking at 1am in the morning (he had to go to work in 4 hours). I wrote my phone number on a matchbook, hoping and praying he would call me. I said, as a joke, that I wouldn't go out with him unless he got a hair cut (he looked like someone out of Iron Maiden). We said goodnight, and I think we both went home with smiles on our faces.

So that Thursday he calls me and asks me to go to his mums cottage for the weekend, he would pick me up after his hockey game at 11pm. Well of course I said yes. So he shows up at my door at 11pm, with a haircut that George Clooney would be proud of . . . . . i just knew the moment he stood there at my door that I was not going to let him leave my life. We went to the cottage, came back on the Sunday and he pretty much moved in right away, and we have been together ever since.

Why has our marriage lasted? I tell you why, because we talk, we laugh, we share, we listen, we have our own little idiosynchresies that we both love about each other, we drive each other nuts at time, we both value honesty and manners, we both love our families - and each others families, we both believe in hard work everyday, and we both believe that our family is the most important thing in our life.

So Deano, this is for you . . . .

With you by my side...
I have conquered my fears.

With you by my side...
I have let go of my sadness

With you by my side...
I can reach for the stars,

With you by my side...
My compassion flows

With you by my side...
nothing is unachievable

With you by my side...
Love seems easy.

With you by my side...
I can do anything I put my mind to.

With you by my side...
I am not afraid of my tears.

With you by my side...
I have had such a good life.

With you by my side...
Anything is possible.

Thank you for supporting me through my jobs; for telling me 'you can do it' when i went for the management job; for telling me I am beautiful, even when i am in my pjs after a long week; for rubbing my feet after a work weekend; for making my coffee on the weekend; for shovelling my car out; for encouraging my photography and genealogy; for telling me every day that you love me; for loving my family as you do yours; for being my little sisters perfect brother in law; for being the most amazing father i have ever seen; for being my best friend, my lover and my man - and most of all, i thank you for being you. I love you with all my heart. Thank you Dean for the best 25 years of my life, i could not imagine not having taken this journey without you by my side.