This is a smoochy post, you are forewarned.



Today marks 10 years since Lisa and I went on our first date. God I love this woman.

Here's Part 1 and Part 2 of that particular adventure, for some background info.

We are a demonstrative couple - I tell her I love her many times a day, and she kisses my face about as much as a face can possibly be kissed. "Sully, come here. I need a smooch for strength!" I'm only too happy to comply. I am not afraid to get all mushy on the phone or in public (despite the rolled eyes I get from my friends or coworkers who happen to overhear me) because I want her to know how profoundly she has changed my life, and because sometimes when I see her my heart feels like it's going to burst with joy and I need to let some of it out.

Anyway, ten years. Damn. It seems like I have known her all my life (more so for her I guess) but in another way it's been a single beat of a hummingbirds wings. I notice that time speeds up when we are together, but slows down considerably when I'm on the road. I guess it's because when I'm with her I feel complete, but when I'm away there's always this...longing...and I find myself scheming about how to return home just a few minutes quicker.

A few notable events / processes that we have shared in the past decade include:

Lisa endured a whole lot of outside pressure to end our relationship, and I experienced a whole lot of anger (lots of it was justified, I'm not making excuses) from a whole lot of people due to our age difference (detailed in the how-we-met posts).
Lisa went to university and got a degree, with honors.
I went up north to fly, then came back down south, to fly.
We made it through 4 years of long-distance relationship.
Lisa got a job working for the parent company who employs me.
We got engaged, then married.
We went to France, Bahamas, a few spots in the US, and toured British Columbia in a camper van.
We lived together in a condo, a couple of apartments and a house, then bought a house of our own.
We got a puppy, and were adopted by a feral cat.
Lisa changed her hair color and shoes a few hundred times; I shaved my head and wear the same shoe style I did in 2000(Black, shiny, cheap).
We discovered the joys of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
We discovered the joys of barbecuing.
Lisa's friends, while initially suspicious (I don't blame them one bit), warmed up to me and vice-versa.
We watched with amazement and sometimes amusement/horror as various friends and family conducted their lives in all sorts of scandalous ways. We are low-drama, but it's fun to live vicariously through others from time to time, though we both agree it gets tiring before too long.
I invented about a billion pet names for Lisa, some of which are: smoochy, scuppy, scoopy, scamperpants, floofy, angel, whizzler, and a whole pile of other ones that are considerably more silly. I'd post more of them but I suspect she's already going to plan my demise for even posting the few I just did.


We have been there for each other during lots of personal and professional ups and downs, and she has been my most trusted confidante and adviser - she's a hell of a smart woman and I'm lucky to have her in my corner when I need additional perspective and/or support. Like me, her B.S. detector is permanently set on 'high', and she's not afraid to call me out on things and kick my ass when it's required. I love her all the more for it.

Oh, and you may have noticed she's not too hard on the eyes either :) That's just icing in the cake, but I'm telling you it's some beautiful icing.

I can't thank her enough for enduring the past ten years with me, and I love her more than I could possibly express. I clearly married well out of my league, but every day I do my best to show her how grateful I am for every moment I spend with her.

Lisa, you are my life. Here's to the last ten years, and here's to the next hundred!