I don’t know any of these people, do you?

Today is our 15^th Wedding Anniversary.  A lot has changed since two fresh-faced, fun loving, enthusiastic youngsters got together and formed our very own Anglo-Scot alliance.

Most of the changes have occurred slowly and comfortably, as we’ve drifted into new habits over time.

Some changes have been sudden and life-changing;  parenthood was thrust on us with the arrival of two beautiful bouncing babies (in reality they arrived one at a time with a little gap in the middle!).

Other big changes have taken courage, preparation and effort;  amongst other things, we’ve upped sticks to live in a new country twice.

We have been very lucky together.  We are fortunate that most of our marriage has been “for better” rather than “for worse”, and “in health” rather than “in sickness”.

Just the one glass, thanks!

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Looking back on it, the events of the summer already seem like just a minor blip.  They did however result in accelerated change… I guess Heart Attacks have a habit of doing that.

The obvious changes relate to my lifestyle.  I am physically a very different person to 6 months ago.  Mentally I guess I’ve changed too… some things that were very important in the past just don’t matter so much.  I like to blame my medication for not getting so wound up about things, but it’s also down to the fact that I’ve developed a new perspective on life.  Some might call it “balance”, but it still doesn’t always feel that natural to me.

Less obviously, the whole experience has changed Louise and “us” too.  We don’t talk about it much, but I think we’re still in the “lucky to be alive” and “things could have been different” phase.  This might fade in time, but it’s definitely a big factor now.

Louise has been great throughout the whole experience.  I even got a bit of sympathy for the first few weeks of my recuperation.  (A very rare occurrence!)  She has been incredibly supportive throughout, and has even started to come to terms with my early morning swimming (although alarms at the weekend are strictly forbidden!).  Again, I am very lucky.

The gifts we exchanged this morning summed up our current situation well:  Flowers, Chocolates, Festive Liqueur & a pair of Swimming Trunks.  Can you guess who received what?

***

Health scares change things… and they should, but we look forward to many more years of gentle, drifting change with the occasional moments of excitement… but only on our terms of course!!!