Nineteen years after our first date

Last weekend's cruise was a nice, if entirely too brief, escape from the usual things. The room upgrade was fantastic. When I booked it back in December, I figured that we had not done a proper "us" celebration in awhile, which is how I justified a concierge stay. The upgrade made it feel quite a bit more "luxury," as the suite had a dining table and the primary bathroom was enormous. It had a beautiful mosaic on the bathroom wall above the tub.

Concierge is like having your own little world, with a dedicated lounge, and a sun deck that is wholly underutilized. The Disney ships do a good job at distributing people in various ways, so it never quite seems crowded, but this gives you a level of exclusivity that's pretty extraordinary. The first night we sat in a hot tub by ourselves, and another day we hung out there with just a few other people. They have a bar in the lounge that's open from 5 to 10 everyday, so while we didn't drink a ton (too much food for me!), we didn't pay extra for very much either. Free popcorn, too, which is Simon's "big" expense.

Getting back to the celebration, May 31, 2007, was the day I met Diana, and 19 years later, it still seems like a big day for us. Our wedding anniversary is nice, but the day we met is a day that fundamentally changed our trajectory. It just seems unlikely that we would have met, especially in our 30's, dating online.

We talked for several hours that night, which was not a frequent occurrence in my dating experience, maybe because connection just didn't come easy to me. We talked about theater stuff, our career paths and such. By the end of the year, we moved in together, and married less than 22 months after we met.

I like to think that your outcomes are deliberate, but sometimes you just get lucky. I landed with someone that I'm never angry with, look forward to seeing everyday and I know she supports me in every way. As best I can tell, that's uncommon. I love you, dearest!