Ten Years After

Back in April, Rachel and I celebrated our one-year wedding anniversary. Our second year of marriage is progressing nicely- there's a boy-child on the way, we've signed on for another year in Mokpo, the dog and cat are happy and content... Tomorrow marks another anniversary in our life together: it has been ten years since we met for the first time.

1997: Tim Miller had just hired a cute little high-school girl as a promotions assistant at WOMG where I had been working for about six months doing many of the odd jobs delegated to part-timers. We were both scheduled to man the booth at the Richland Mall Halloween party. Jay Philips was hosting the event along with his wife, Sunny- he was dressed as a knight, she as his maiden fair. Rachel and I wore station t-shirts and handed out stickers to an endless line of ghosts, witches, and Ninja Turtles, all the while laughing and talking and laughing some more.

An instant rapport developed between us: we both loved the station's music (especially The Beatles!), we were both movie snobs, and, though neither of us would have chosen to spend a Friday night at the mall, we made the best of an opportunity to people watch (and mock). We also jumped right into the first of many push-and-pull, confrontational conversations we would have over the next few years. (BTW: These conversations still happen, only now they usually end with Rachel telling me to "shut the hell up," as is her wife's prerogative, of course.)

We worked together often, after that night. Promotions, air-shifts, station emergencies (like when the CD tower broke and we had to play Christmas music for 10 overnight hours, manually cuing each song, praying it would be ready to play before the previous song ended)... she seemed always to be there. Little did I know she was plotting a future for us.

I don't think she planned for our current situation: married, living in Korea, and expecting a child... Oh well, life really is full of surprises, and though we've had some rocky times here and there, I wouldn't change a thing. In her less confrontational moments, I think she'd admit the same.

Happy Ten Years of Knowing You, Baby... With little Gandalf on the way, I look forward to many more decades of friendship and laughing and talking and laughing and love and always laughing...

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Listening to: 08 - In My Life [foobar2000 v0.9.3.1]
via FoxyTunes