Thursday 14 February 2013

Love is for life, not just for Valentines....

13 years ago this year MrEH and I got married. It was a sunny day. It was also alternately a rainy, hail-y, windy and thundery day...I seem to recall the forecast was "changeable" although we mostly avoided getting wet. Apparently it was also cold....I've been told this by a number of people since - mostly they've continued by saying "Not though you two would have noticed...!"


We met at a beer festival - I was working on the admin team, and MrEH was with the chaps looking after the beer. I don't remember him terribly well from that first year to be honest - I know we met as I have photos proving it, but it can't have been love at first sight. It wasn't love at second sight either - although I do have a clear recollection of not only meeting him, but having a fairly long conversation that time. Third time we met properly was back at the original Beer Festival - fast forward a couple of years and I was Deputy Organiser and he was back looking after the beer. On occasions this took him to the lofty heights of the top of the scaffold "stillage" that the beer sits on, and from there he honed his awesome chat-up methods - namely of throwing tiny bits of wood more commonly used for sealing up beer casks at me. (How old was he at the time? Well, you do realise that "boy years" are a bit like "Dog years", don't you? So mentally, about 7, probably!) Amazingly enough though this method worked, and by the end of the week he'd decided he quite liked me, and I'd decided he'd do...for the time being...

13 years on, and there will be no cards bought today, no huge bunches of flowers, or big boxes of chocolates. We don't "do" Valentines day. We tell one another "I love you" regularly, we don't need big commercial entities telling us that we "should" do so on one particular day of the year. We are each the person who the other most likes to spend time with. We never run out of things to talk about, but, conversely, are comfortable to sit in silence. I tease him for his obsession with news and current affairs, but as a result probably keep up to date with such things more than I would otherwise. He takes the mickey out of my clarinet calling it a "Spit Trumpet" but never complains when I practise - sometimes the same phrase of music over and over and over...he gets up ahead of me every weekday morning and brings me a cup of tea. I gently mock his rugby training nights, telling him to enjoy "playing with his little friends" and he ribs me endlessly for my habit of jumping about when I get excited about something. He infuriates me with his habit of leaving dirty clothes piled in a heap for days and then dumping them all at once in the laundry basket, and my habit of leaving dirty pots and pans in water in the sink maddens him

We've discovered the Hebrides together Island by Island, the original decision to go was almost spooky in the way we both mentioned it at the same time, while watching the Ferry unload at Uig one evening on our first visit to the Isle of Skye. We both enjoy the experience of travelling to somewhere as much as arriving there - particularly if trains are involved, and will cheerfully take any excuse to jump on board one. When we were talking about ideas for our honeymoon once the idea of a round Britain trip using Rail Rover tickets had surfaced, there were never any other thoughts! He suggested one of my favourite songs for the first dance at our wedding, and a whole group of my friends shrieked in delight when they heard what it was (Roger Taylor - "Tonight", in case you were wondering) which may not be the usual response to a first dance song, but made us laugh a lot!


As much now as the day we got married, he's my very best friend, and I simply can't imagine life without him. I don't need an overpriced card and a bunch of imported flowers to know that he feels the same way about me, too.

Robyn


14 comments:

me and my girls said...

I love this post, couldn't agree more with you about not 'doing' valentines day! Xx

Singlegirl said...

Lovely post. X

Wendy said...

This is a lovely post to read; congratulations on 13 years of marriage this year. How wonderful that you discovered the beauty of the Hebrides together.

BarnsleyHistorian said...

Wonderful post Robyn, made me cry. I'd like to think Nige and I are like that too - maybe its something about meeting at beer festivals?

Robyn said...

what a lovely lot of comments - thank you all!
H - there do seem to be rather a lot of CAMRA couples who fit that mould. I wonder whether it has a lot to do with meeting and getting to know people over a period of time in a non-dating environment, so often the base friendship forms before any romantic stuff flourishes? I hope the making you cry bit was in a good way, too! Looking forward to seeing you both at the BM's meeting! xx

Wittgenstein's Watering Can said...

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!! :-D xxx

Scarlet said...

What a lovely post.It's just how J and I feel about each other - even down to the sitting in silence, and my teasing him about going to play football - he's nearly 51 and still going strong - he can run rings round men less than half his age. There were no cards, flowers, chocolates, meals out or meal- deals in for us yesterday, but there was ' I love you' like there is every day, and there was the knowledge that we mean it.

Robyn said...

Anyone who wants to celebrate it, fine and good for them , so long as they can afford what they're spending then good for them, it's their call. But no, it doesn't suit us. Glad to hear J's still enjoying his football.....mad, aren't they!

Fay McKenzie said...

Ha a picture of you and mr eh on your blog! Hooray. Happy 13 years!

And don't you look happy. Mr f is a sensitive soul, this year I've weaned him off cards and onto virtual ones.....small steps!

Lovely I only wish mr f and I met in as romantic (wood chucking) circumstances!

Ps men years and dog years, so true!

Robyn said...

Don't expect to see too many more pictures of us though, those are very occasional indeed! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Hello,

just caught up and that was so lovely to read.
Such a fab pic too.
Congratulations and every happiness for the next 13 years,

Lula
xx

Robyn said...

Awww thank you! xx

Gill said...

Only just catching up, lovely photo. Suspect its quite a rare one!

Robyn said...

Very rare indeed! ;-)