Happy Anniversary

Most of the world will remember this day for the Royal Wedding of William and Kate. I, however, will be remembering it as my fifth Wedding Anniversary.

Yes, Mrs EDM and I were married five years ago to the day. I’ve never felt more assured of my choice of wife as I do today and thank my lucky stars for her being and presence in my life. It hasn’t been all plain sailing though. I don’t mean the relationship itself. I just mean the trials and tribulations we’ve been through together since 29 April 2006.

It is public knowledge, through this blog anyway, that the wife and I suffered a miscarriage late last year in trying to have our second child. That was actually the second miscarriage we’d suffered since the son came along and was of course devastating and demoralising.

What some of you may not be aware of, is that the son himself was the subject of a two and half year journey through IVF and the like. Within a couple of months of the Wedding, we started trying and like all those before us, just expected that it would happen pretty soon. I for one was worried at the time that it would happen too soon.

Alas, the next couple of years were full of frustration, anger and disillusionment, and certainly forced us to live up to our ‘for better or for worse’ vows. And now we find ourselves again in a ‘trying’ journey that isn’t going exactly as we’d planned. A journey that will continue for a while yet as events over the next few weeks mean it’ll be August/September before we can expect any good news. So yes, there have been some rather large trials and tribulations over the last five years.

On the reverse side though, there’s plenty to celebrate and be proud of as well. The son is the obvious example. He’s bought immense joy to our lives and continues to have us in stitches with his inquisitive mind and expanding vocabulary. Being a Dad is the best job in the world and sharing the parental role with my wife is proving to be something really special as well.

We’ve also accomplished quite a bit since we were married in the material-type things in this world. We’ve bought and sold a house at a decent profit as well as built our current home. That was a major challenge in itself, particularly living with our parents for different stages (they might say ‘hosting’ us was the challenge) and all the thousands of choices that go into designing, constructing and decorating a new home.

There was of course the odd stress-induced disagreement along the way (someone say ‘grout’?) but the house has to be seen as a success by my reckoning as we survived it and have managed to create a home for ourselves and the son.

The last five years have also seen the negotiation of a career change and a number of job changes. For the wife I must say. Not me. I’m still doing the same old stuff at the same old desk in the same old building. Do I sound bitter about that?

So yes, the wife and I have been through a lot over the course of our marriage so far - some planned and expected but also a lot of unplanned and unexpected. Not sure how the peaks/troughs relate to other marriages but it’s certainly been an interesting journey thus far and there’s no-one else that I would have rather shared it with.

She’s a special person Mrs EDM. And on today of all days, I want to thank her for spilling her rum on my foot on a drunken night out at the Normanby back in 2004. But mostly for everything she’s done for me since and for walking beside me through the thick and the thin over the last five years. A big happy anniversary!

Now let’s just hope I can drag her away from the tele tonight so that we can celebrate it. Have a feeling that other event on today might distract her a little.

EDM.