Sunday Reading posts are a little sporadic depending on how crazy busy I am but before the insanity which is August with a wedding every weekend I thought I'd squeeze in another.
I realised earlier that 9 years ago today I was in New York with Paul and he kissed me for the very first time. He'd been living in the US for 2 years and had asked me to fly over from Wales for a vacation. We'd been friends since 1997 but I think this was the first time that both of us were single at the same time. Here's the immigration stamp in my passport from 2001:
I assumed we'd hang out as friends like usual and so was somewhat surprised when after a few days in Newburyport, we flew off to NYC. Paul had all sorts of plans for fancy dinners and front-row opera tickets (with a little help from Gail Case, event planner extraordinare!). Here we are doing the tourist thing in Times Square - this is a photograph of a picture taken on a disposable camera - not bad!
Quick background story to that dress in the picture above... we were out for dinner at Chez Josephine, it's warm, inviting and romantic and a jazz band is playing soft background music. I hadn't figured out contact lenses then so was still somewhat reliant on my glasses but I didn't like wearing them.
About halfway through dinner I excuse myself to go to the bathroom, the restaurant is pretty dark but I figure the restrooms must be towards the back of the restuarant. I have to squeeze past the jazz band and I'm starting to think this is a really tiny restaurant when I see someone coming towards me wearing the same dress as me! Huh - what are the chances that I'm in New York wearing a dress I bought in England and someone else is wearing it too?
We walk towards each other and I do my polite British thing - excuse me, sorry, no sorry, after you - because we're in this tiny space by the band.
And then I realise.
That I really really need to wear my glasses.
I've walked towards a mirror and I'm doing a little dance with myself.
Dinner went well despite my short-sighted issues, we flew back and forth for a while and then the following April I moved here. I'm onto my third passport since then as most of the pages look something like this:
Eskimo Wedding Vow
You are my husband
You are my wife
My feet shall run because of you.
My feet dance because of you.
My eyes see because of you.
My mind thinks because of you.
And I shall love because of you
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