A Chance Meeting - 19yrs on
19 years ago today, my wife and I met for the first time. It was a chance meeting, but one that changed both our lives from that point onward.
I was invited by friends to the 1989 Sydney University end-of-year party. I wasn't a student, but hey, cheap alcohol and a night out was okay by me. I was actually sort of seeing someone at the time. We'd been out a few times but nothing much seemed to be happening. Either way, she wasn't interested in coming to a Uni party with me and my mates so I went on my own. I caught a train to Redfern station and was met there by my friends. They had a few other people with them - other friends, other students - that I did not know. One of them caught my eye immediately.
She was fairly tall, with long dark hair. A nice shirt, jeans and tasteful boots. A finely sculptured face, pale but with red lips and eyes that danced with intelligence and joy. She put her arms around one of my friends and walked back towards Uni. Oh well, I thought. She's taken. And I followed.
At Uni, the party was in full swing. Weddings Parties Anything were playing and students were everywhere. When the band finished a dj played. I stood against the walls with a few of my mates, drinking and watching girls dance. I didn't dance. Couldn't dance. But I enjoyed watching and listening.
And then I saw her again, on the dance floor. She lifted her arms above her head as she danced and the curve of her neck, the bunched muscles of her shoulders, the tilt of her head... it just took my breath away. She looked across the room and locked eyes with mine. She smiled.
Me? I panicked and looked away. Dorky, geeky, teenager! How could I possibly have any chance?
Luckily for me, she was a little more persistent.
Over the course of the night I noticed her more often. She was around more often. Not dancing, but hanging around with us guys. Moving in next to me. Asking questions about me. Telling me about herself.
Her name was Kylie, and I am so damn glad she had more courage than I did. Who knows where I'd be now if she hadn't?
I'll admit I was a little slow to catch on, or maybe it was just the inability to believe she could be interested in me at all.
Eventually, when the Doug Anthony All Stars began their main act, she wanted to get closer to the stage. I said that would be a good idea and looked across the sea of people she wanted to traverse. I couldn't see any way through. I just stood there and stared like a dope.
Then Kylie took my hand. I felt her palm, her long fingers entwining mine, and she dragged me into the crowd!
I went with it. I didn't have a choice. I didn't have a chance.
After DAAS we left the party and wandered the streets of Newtown. Both of us talking. Both of us listening. Exchanging thoughts and lives and hopes and desires.
How strange to find a person that made you realise you'd never been whole before. Someone who made you realise there was a hole in your soul and that they were the one who could fill it.
We've been together ever since. We talked about marriage three days after the night described above. We told her parents and mine.
Strangely enough, they actually seemed to believe it as much as we did.
19 years later we're still together. We are married with two wonderful boys. She's still my best friend and the person who makes me whole.
I also know that will never change. That sort of certainty is a comfort in this strange world and it drives me on through life.
We we're 19 when we met and now it is 19 yrs later. We've known each other for as long as we were alive before we even met. But, it is hard to remember the time before that night. Hard to remember what I was like without her. I could never go back to being an incomplete person again.
Now, I've got to rush off. I've written much more than I intended to and I still have a story edit to finish and an anniversary dinner to start cooking. And, as I'm doing a slow-roasted Greek lamb leg, I've only got an hour of editing time left! 5 hours might seem like a long time to roast a leg of lamb, but it will all be worth it by about 7.30 when I dish it up. :)
I was invited by friends to the 1989 Sydney University end-of-year party. I wasn't a student, but hey, cheap alcohol and a night out was okay by me. I was actually sort of seeing someone at the time. We'd been out a few times but nothing much seemed to be happening. Either way, she wasn't interested in coming to a Uni party with me and my mates so I went on my own. I caught a train to Redfern station and was met there by my friends. They had a few other people with them - other friends, other students - that I did not know. One of them caught my eye immediately.
She was fairly tall, with long dark hair. A nice shirt, jeans and tasteful boots. A finely sculptured face, pale but with red lips and eyes that danced with intelligence and joy. She put her arms around one of my friends and walked back towards Uni. Oh well, I thought. She's taken. And I followed.
At Uni, the party was in full swing. Weddings Parties Anything were playing and students were everywhere. When the band finished a dj played. I stood against the walls with a few of my mates, drinking and watching girls dance. I didn't dance. Couldn't dance. But I enjoyed watching and listening.
And then I saw her again, on the dance floor. She lifted her arms above her head as she danced and the curve of her neck, the bunched muscles of her shoulders, the tilt of her head... it just took my breath away. She looked across the room and locked eyes with mine. She smiled.
Me? I panicked and looked away. Dorky, geeky, teenager! How could I possibly have any chance?
Luckily for me, she was a little more persistent.
Over the course of the night I noticed her more often. She was around more often. Not dancing, but hanging around with us guys. Moving in next to me. Asking questions about me. Telling me about herself.
Her name was Kylie, and I am so damn glad she had more courage than I did. Who knows where I'd be now if she hadn't?
I'll admit I was a little slow to catch on, or maybe it was just the inability to believe she could be interested in me at all.
Eventually, when the Doug Anthony All Stars began their main act, she wanted to get closer to the stage. I said that would be a good idea and looked across the sea of people she wanted to traverse. I couldn't see any way through. I just stood there and stared like a dope.
Then Kylie took my hand. I felt her palm, her long fingers entwining mine, and she dragged me into the crowd!
I went with it. I didn't have a choice. I didn't have a chance.
After DAAS we left the party and wandered the streets of Newtown. Both of us talking. Both of us listening. Exchanging thoughts and lives and hopes and desires.
How strange to find a person that made you realise you'd never been whole before. Someone who made you realise there was a hole in your soul and that they were the one who could fill it.
We've been together ever since. We talked about marriage three days after the night described above. We told her parents and mine.
Strangely enough, they actually seemed to believe it as much as we did.
19 years later we're still together. We are married with two wonderful boys. She's still my best friend and the person who makes me whole.
I also know that will never change. That sort of certainty is a comfort in this strange world and it drives me on through life.
We we're 19 when we met and now it is 19 yrs later. We've known each other for as long as we were alive before we even met. But, it is hard to remember the time before that night. Hard to remember what I was like without her. I could never go back to being an incomplete person again.
Now, I've got to rush off. I've written much more than I intended to and I still have a story edit to finish and an anniversary dinner to start cooking. And, as I'm doing a slow-roasted Greek lamb leg, I've only got an hour of editing time left! 5 hours might seem like a long time to roast a leg of lamb, but it will all be worth it by about 7.30 when I dish it up. :)