I wasn’t the girl who grew up dreaming about her wedding. I didn’t play pretend wedding and neither I nor my Barbie dressed up as a bride. In college when a girlfriend was having boy drama, I was the one telling her she was enough on her own. I didn’t look for love, I didn’t pine for it or dream about it. It was a non-question, as was marriage, I didn’t think about it except in the abstract. And then, exactly 10 years ago this week, this guy kissed me. And that was it. It just was. It was everything and nothing all at the same time; so perfectly ordinary that it was extraordinary. From that moment, that one perfect moment, we were together. We just were.
Someone asked me once when I knew we were serious, when we had that conversation. I had to think about it then, and I thought on it again on this milestone. The truth is, there never was a conversation. I’m sure of it. Perhaps there was a word or two before we got engaged, but I don’t remember them. There was certainly nothing prior to that and nothing that ever involved questions of ‘Should we do this’ or ‘What are we’ or ‘When will we’. It seems odd, most relationships have those status checks. I can’t explain it except to say we just were, from very early on.
That’s not to say our relationship was placid. It isn’t now and it never was. I’ll say we’re spirited conversationalists. We’re not afraid to air our grievances and then move on. But in all those conversations and discussions, there was never a question of ‘what if we weren’t us’.
I’m don’t think I believe in soul-mates or fate, which is why it’s so hard for me to understand how someone so perfect for me, in ways I could never have guessed or anticipated, would be a part of my life. It would be easier I think to say it was fate. Easier to say our relationship was destined to be. Without that predetermination, the chance involved means we could have easily missed each other. I could have gone to a different party, he could have gone to a different school. We might never have met and then he might never have kissed me on that cold January morning.
But he did.
Ten years ago I didn’t know; I didn’t know what my life would be like today. I couldn’t have possibly imagined if I tried. Ten years ago I wasn’t thinking about marriage or the future. I just knew it seemed right. I just knew, in the way you know the sky is above the ground. I just knew I was in the right place, with the right person. Just as I know it now.
I still don’t know what the future holds. I get dizzy thinking about what my life might look like ten years from now. I don’t know where I’ll be or what I will experience in the next decade; I couldn’t dream it if I tried.
But I do know who I’ll be with. I know who I’ll cuddle under the covers with, who I’ll wake up when I’ve had a bad dream. I know who I’ll trade ‘you are’ comeback lines and lame jokes with. I know who I’ll debate over beers and cuddle with during movies. I know who will get me ginger ale when I’m sick and chocolate when I’ve had a bad day. I know who I’ll talk with, argue with, laugh with, and dance in the living room with.
I know who will be holding my hand. I know who will be kissing me.
Because it was never a question. It always was.