9.18.2002 Happy Anniversary Elizabeth
Today marks our third year wedding anniversary. I can't believe it's been three years already. Okay, so it's not like someone saying 'I can't believe it's been 25 years'. But hey, it really does not feel like it's been three years. Not like three years is that long of a time, but it just doesn't feel like it's even been that long. Time sure flies.
The only aspect that I can compare the time to is us living here in New York City. That has also been the last three years and trying to count the many memories and events we have had so far here, there are too many. Of course, when I count all of our experiences together, even before we were married and before New York City, that itself is just too overwhelming.
As I write this, memories just flash through my head some in fast motion, some in slow motion. I could spend hours here listing one after another and I would smile after each one and cry over some others. But the thing that really gets me the most is the total picture—how we both have grown as individuals as well as together, and the experiences we both have felt.
Before Elizabeth, well, let’s be honest, there were others that I had relationships with. And likewise, she had previous boyfriends. But I can whole-heartedly say that when I thought I knew mostly all there was to know, there was just so much further I was yet to experience being with another person. What I’m trying to describe, I know I just don’t have the words for. If others did, I guess the entire mystery of love and companionship would be extracted, scrutinized, examined, defined, and then simplified. And of course, we know that this cannot be true.
I would just like to say that I’m grateful for all the experiences we have had so far—both encouraging each other into adulthood and the mutual respect that we have is truly fabulous. Happy Anniversary my dear Elizabeth. I love you with all my heart. Pretty soon, we’ll have many more experiences, where one day we’ll find ourselves all wrinkled and gray, saying ‘I can’t believe it’s been 25 years’.
We have had similar senses of humor—we always have. I remember she telling me that she had asthma. Often times, she had to be careful, for if the temperature was less than 85 degrees Fahrenheit, her asthma may kick in, she would suffocate and she could die.
I honestly took this seriously.
The first time she came to visit me at home, it was the middle of winter. I had cranked the heat up to 85 degrees an hour prior, just to insure that things were nice and toasty. I dressed accordingly in a fashionable t-shirt, where she was dressed in a sweater. A few months had passed, where she shyly wiped some sweat beads from her forehead and timidly asked, “Would it be alright if you turned the heat down a little?”
“But,” I hesitated to avoid any accidents, “Are you sure it would be alright? It would be below 85 though … the asthma?” After a few seconds, we whole-heartedly laughed for about ten minutes.
It’s been great ever since.
