Another Anniversary

Tonight we're going out to dinner at the same place we've eaten every Sept. 19 for the last seven years, an little Italian restaurant a few blocks from our house. 

This is our seven year shacking-up anniversary.

Seven years ago last night, a sweet guy I'd been dating for a while called and said he was thinking about coming over.  Cool.  Unremarkable, but cool. 

And then he said he was thinking about bringing his stuff and asked if that was okay.  I said that would be great.

And that was it.

He threw a bunch of his clothes into a couple suitcases and he came over.  I don't think we slept more than an hour or two that night -- not sexy stuff, just talking, figuring out what it all meant and if we were both sure we were ready.  We concluded we were.  The next day, he brought boxes and bags of his stuff.  The following weekend, it was furniture.  And by October 1, everything he owned was either at "our" place or in a storage locker. 

Seven years of his sweet face as I fall asleep and wake up. 

I know there are some who frown on living in sin, but it worked for us.  And no double rent just for propriety's sake.  I wasn't in a huge hurry to get married for numerous reasons -- my parents divorced when I was growing up, I have a couple friends who have gotten divorced, I wanted to be as certain as I could that I was making the right choice before saying "I do" (or "Lo voglio," as we said in our Italian vows), and we don't want to have kids. 

There is no denying that after about 5 years of living alone, having him live with me was a huge adjustment, and not always easy.  But I think we went through a lot of those "sharing space and habits" growing pains the first year we shacked up, making the first year of marriage a breeze (while people who don't shack have all those adjustments after the vows). 

In fact, there are still things we each do that drive each other crazy.  I don't understand why he doesn't immediately close a cabinet door after taking out the dish or glass that he wants.  He doesn't understand why I slurp my coffee when it's hot though it irritates him to no end.  I could probably list about 20 other things for each of us if I gave it a moment's thought, but in the end, it doesn't matter. 

Overall, it's been seven wonderful and fun years of being together as much as we can.  Woot!  That's officially more than 1/5 of my life!