Before I tell the marvelous saga of Sardinia and our adventures there, it is necessary to remark that Day One of this sojourn, 27 July 2015, marked the 20th anniversary of how SHE came to be in my life.
I am tempted to begin the tale with words like: “It was a dark and stormy night.” or some such prose poetic, but my meeting of She Who Must Be Obeyed is a simple story.
I had everything planned for travelling about Europe.
I had bought an open-ended airline ticket valid for a year.
I had work waiting for me in Oxford.
I was footloose and fancy-free, no ties, no commitments.
That year, my 31st, I worked in Oxford, Leicester, Nottingham and Cardiff at various McJobs I could find: in factories, in old age homes, on the street, in a youth hostel, for the University.
SHE meanwhile was studying medicine in Freiburg im Breisgau in the Black Forest of Germany and was doing an apprenticeship in Liverpool.
I was working in Leicester and one long weekend I, on impulse, decided to visit Stratford-upon-Avon, William Shakespeare’s birthplace.
SHE, having completed her apprenticeship period, was travelling around England.
We met that evening of 27 July 1996 at the youth hostel in Stratford.
It was love at first sight.
I thought she was HOT.
She thought my guidebooks were terrific.
For five years, we lived on separate continents: She remaining in Freiburg, I in Canada, then in South Korea.
For another five years, we lived together in Freiburg.
We’ve been married for ten years.
It has not always been easy, but it has never been boring.
Living with another person is a continual work in progress, whose results are never guaranteed.
I will say this one thing in defense of SHE…
SHE and I may not always be harmonious together, but SHE has made me a better person for having known her.
And after all has been said, if the person you have loved makes significant positive changes in you, then the time together has not been wasted.
For if love is blind, then being in a long-term relationship is a real eye-opener!