The best friends make the best marriages

March 29th -- 9 years ago today, I nervously waited in a local coffee shop to meet a guy I had been chatting with for a few weeks. He had a great sense of humour online, but I was worried that I would be so awkward in our first meeting that things wouldn't go well.

Instead, this incredibly tall man came into my view with a giant grin on his face and we talked like we had been friends for years.

I believe I was a tad infatuated. (Dec 2007. We were so young!)

That was what I was struck by those first months. Not just the excitement of a new relationship, but that we developed a strong friendship so quickly. I didn't want to live a life without his friendship in it. That's how I knew he was it for me.

We have built a life on that friendship. Inside jokes and quick wit, grandiose plans and down to earth futures. We have laughed hard, cried hard, fought hard, and worked hard. (Him more than me on that working thing.)

I think we have become better people because of each other and we continue to challenge each other to the best versions of ourselves.

On our way to The Hip concert. (2015)

Here is to another 9 years and another after that and after that. I am grateful for the richness The Guy has brought into my life. He has been beside me through everything and has met it all with patience and quick wit.

You can't ask for more.

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We went back into that coffee shop a few months ago and I ordered my usual "the largest hot chocolate with the most whipped cream". He turned to me and said "You've been ordering that the exact same way since the moment I met you."

I hadn't noticed, but he did.

You gotta love that.