Lifestyle | A toast to 5!

So, last weekend happened to feature one of those days I never miss in a calendar year. With one year officially struck off my shelf life, I was left with no choice but to do the things an average bloke does when anniversaries suddenly start showing up in (seemingly) shorter intervals than they are supposed to. Like it’s only been six months since you feted the previous one. Like you’ve spent one half of the last twelve months in comma.

Suddenly you look back and you can actually account for every single one of the months – which may or may not necessarily mean accomplishment in the true sense of the word. Your twelve months may feature some missed goals. There could be some positives (or lots of them, depending on your efficiency and the efficiency of those around you). Or it could just have been a smooth sail all through.

I pondered about the goals and aspirations we set as kids, and how it all panned out. It’s one of those moments when you look back at the years gone by and you can’t help but imagine what could have happened if you had done certain things differently.

The same weekend coincides with our wedding anniversary. A couple of years after University, I met a fabulous woman in Carol, who also happened to live in the neighborhood of my place of abode at the time. One thing led to another, and it would only be a matter of time before the chemistry got its permanent address, on November 05, 2011.

On November 05, 2016, we officially made five years in marriage, a few hours before I turned a year older. In an era where a spiraling number of marriages last shorter than an average presidential office term, there was always going to be ample temptation to toast to this. And boy has it been a ride!

It’s been an action-packed five years. Five years of love. New friends. Three wonderful children. Several milestones, both tangible and non-tangible. The occasional trip. And everything else in between. It’s been five years of a roller-coaster learning curve about love, life and business. 

It’s been five years of literally everything I could possibly ask for. It’s been a testament our self-coined blueprint of Communication, Commitment and Compromise (CCC), which I imagine only works when the two parties are in sync.

It’s probably down to compatibility. Or character. Or willpower. I don’t know. It’s a riddle we chose to leave unanswered as a couple of sweet red wine glasses clanged into a cameo harmonic, on a night that we toasted to a thrilling five years of marriage. We can only be thankful to God for seeing us through this, and hope that this lives on for many more years.

So, here’s to me, albeit belatedly, to yet another year on the trot. And here’s to us, to the five years of what should be a lifelong journey!