A year Ago

A year ago today, I made a commitment to share my life with Margaret. I would have expected such an event to be heavily planned. It wasn't. We'd both been thinking about how important our relationship was. Margaret had wanted to explore some form of long-term commitment for a while, but I was still trying to figure out what I wanted. Late in November I realized that I was ready for a long term commitment. We didn't get a chance to discuss in detail what we wanted until our December Austin trip. The night of the second we discussed where we were headed. Then, shortly before leaving the third, we asked ourselves whether there was any thing we still needed to consider or think through before making the commitment. There wasn't so we agreed to share our lives. We were ready and so we took the step. The following year has been the happiest of my life.

Over the following month, we learned how to express the meaning of our commitment to ourselves. That month was difficult as we tried to explain our relationship to others. Our travel schedule and busy lives kept us apart for much of December which was difficult. But as December flowed into January, we continued to realize that we had made the right decision and that we had found joy and happiness together.

For me, this has been one of the best things that ever could happen.