We have arrived

I fell asleep on the couch last night with the Cricket on. The Ashes have started, and Andrew and I were watching them. I knew they would go late into the night, and so I would have to sleep through part of them. I always woke up momentarily for the yell of a wicket, and amazingly woke up 2 seconds before a wicket one time.

At one point I woke up, and Mark had joined Andrew on the couch. We shared easy conversation about the bleak chances of our batsmen when we were 3-22, laughing and just sharing the camaraderie of following a sport together.

The cricket finished up around 3am, and we all went to bed around the same time. I got up at 6:30 again to get ready for work. I ate my soup, and put on my green socks. I love my green socks, and I enjoy the simple freedoms of choosing what I wear each morning after so long being stuck in one look every day, down to my sock color.

I went to the bus stop and there was a beautiful sunrise. I had to keep looking back and forth at it and the direction the bus would be coming from, to make sure I hailed it in time for it to stop for me. It came eventually, and I rode into work. As I came into the city, I thought about people and their morning coffee rituals, and thought though I didn’t want coffee that this morning I might want something.

I found myself about 10 minutes later walking through Rundle mall with an iced chocolate in my hand. It was a telling moment. Andrew and I confirmed our falling in love walking through Rundle Mall. The first night I was in Australia, we’d wandered Rundle Mall  late into the night, and it always reminds me of those free times, and the hope I felt for our future, and the wonder I felt at being with this amazing person.

As I walked through this morning, I didn’t just remember the optimism of those moments, I felt it. I felt  an optimism for the future, simply because I didn’t even really remember the decision to buy this iced chocolate. Over the past two years, we’ve both spent so much time weighing up Every. Single. Purchase. Thinking and contemplating every $5 nothing purchase, and most often coming to the conclusion that such a purchase could not be justified.

I remember looking forward to having Mark come over, and doing things together the three of us doing things together. I remember thinking of the sort of job I might get, and just enjoying life here.

And today, after 2 years and 3 months, I felt like those moments had finally come. Mark may be gone in a week, but I always knew he wouldn’t be with us forever, and I am just glad for any time we get together.

I walked to a job that I love with a small purchase in hand that I hadn’t spared a thought for, wearing the locks that I love. This is the life I dreamed of. And it is here.