One Decade

Ten years ago today, I stood under a hot African sun, in front of 40 of our close friends and family, and said these words to the man standing next to me...

From this day forward I promise you these things.

I will laugh with you in times of joy

and comfort you in times of sorrow.

I will share in your dreams, and support you as you strive to achieve your goals.

I will listen to you with compassion and understanding,

and speak to you with encouragement.

I will help you when you need it, and step aside when you don't.

I will remain faithful to you for better or worse, in times of sickness and health.

You are my best friend and I will love and respect you always.

A lot has happened in our first decade of marriage.

Just one week after our wedding, we boarded a plane to London - with one-way tickets and all our worldly belongings in two suitcases between us to start a new life in the UK. And what an adventure it has been!

Between us we've had 7 jobs... some of which we've hated (with She-Devil bosses from hell), but finally we are both reasonably content. We aim to work to live, never live to work....

We've taken on the complete renovation of a Previous-Owner's-DIY-Experiment-Gone-Horribly-Wrong of a house.

We've travelled... to West Coast USA, Canada, the Caribbean, South Africa, The Maldives, Egypt, Malta, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Belguim, the Czech Republic, Romania, Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland, and all around the UK and Channel Islands. Vietnam and Cambodia beckon in 2012...

We've experienced scuba diving, snorkeling, skiing, snowshoeing, dogsledding, paragliding, hot air ballooning, mountain biking, hiking, driving a Ferrari and indoor skydiving. Some of these activities ended better than others!

We've learnt a bit about Aikido... and have the bruises to show for it! One of us has ended up with his leg in plaster for 3 months after a freak football-in-the-park incident.

We've witnessed friends' matching and then hatching a whole brood of littl'uns.

We've become aunt and uncle four times over and godparents twice.
 
Sadly, we've watched my dad put up a brave fight against cancer, and finally lose.  And we've seen how this dreadful disease plays havoc with the families of so many of our close friends.

We've watched the world changed by the explosion of technology, gadgets and social networking.

We've witnessed the global economic downturn, revolutions, wars, famine, natural disasters and much of the world's population suffering on a large scale.

We've counted ourselves lucky to live the comfortable, privileged lives that we do.

We've laughed, we've cried... and we've talked and talked.

What will the next decade bring?