I’m off next week to celebrate being married for 15 years to the love of my life, Robert Wood. Of course, we lived together for five years before we got married, so I prefer to count it as 20.
I moved out with Rob when I was 16 and he was 19, much to the “delight” of his two guy friends who didn’t want some young girl cramping their style.
It wasn’t too long before we got a place of our own (thank the Lord) and everyone stayed friends, so my whining about things like the hazards of leaving meat out on the counter overnight was forgiven soon after I left.
Rob had a full-time job, and I was still in high school and working part-time. Everyone thought I’d drop out or get pregnant. No one really believed that I’d finish high school, go to college and achieve my dream of becoming a reporter, but I proved them wrong. It wasn’t easy, but I guess you could say that I’m a stubborn person. Once I’ve got my eye on a goal, it’ll take a lot for me to give up on it.
One of my goals was marrying that awesome man I had found at the age of 16, and on July 31, 1999, at the age of 21, I became Mrs. Robert Wood.
It’s what I had hoped for since our very first date.
Rob’s friend Tony used to drop off someone at our high school each morning, and one day Tony saw my friend Chantalle, who was (and still is) a beauty. He felt compelled to ask her out, but no ordinary way would do, so he made a video of himself asking her on a date and had someone deliver it to her at school.
Together we rushed into the library to play the message from her secret admirer, and after about a minute the camera man made a debut — it was Rob. I was hooked. I told Chantalle I’d go on a double date with her if Rob would come, and Tony made that happen. Of course, Rob didn’t know he was on a double date, but it all worked out in the end. Tony and Chantalle didn’t hit it off, but Rob and I definitely did.
Those early years were filled with what we used to call “twitterpation,” the feeling of excitement at the mere mention of his name or the smell of his brand of cologne, the desire to spend every single minute with your man and the need to have something of his with you when he’s not there.
I was twitterpated big time.
Over the years that excitement to see him and be near him has changed, but it’s still there. We’re no longer teenagers with all the crazy emotions youth brings, but I love him more deeply and widely than I ever did before.
We’ve been through our share of tough times, as all marriages have peaks and valleys, but we’ve never given up on each other, and that has helped us develop a kind of love that has been able to stand the test of time, or at least the test of 20 years.
We’ve changed a lot in the last two decades (sizes, styles, passions, beliefs), but our love has been the glue that has held us together. Well, that, and likely the hundreds of prayers that are said for our marriage each week by my mother and grandmother, which can’t hurt.
Next week we’re off to Victoria for our anniversary, and I can’t wait to spend some time honouring the amazing husband I have in Robert Wood and celebrating our many years together.
I hope someday we’re able to celebrate 60-plus years in love.
