Ann and I celebrate our 7th Wedding Anniversary today. We married in the back yard of a friend's house, with my choir director, Suzanne, as our celebrant. Ann dressed in traditional Thai garb and I just wore a black suit. It was a nice quiet day, on the whole.

And we are still here. Seven years is not such a long time, I know but inter-cultural marriages are a challenge. Our marriage remains a challenge but one well worth accepting and conquering. I hope I can say the same thing in another seven years time!

Here is a sonnet by one of my favourite poets to celebrate the day.

The First Day    Christina Rossetti

I wish I could remember that first day,

First hour, first moment of your meeting me,

If bright or dim the season, it might be

Summer or Winter for aught I can say;

So unrecorded did it slip away,

So blind was I to see and to foresee,

So dull to mark the budding of my tree

That would not blossom yet for many a May.

If only I could recollect it, such

A day of days! I let it come and go

As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow;

It seemed to mean so little, meant so much;

If only now I could recall that touch,

First touch of hand in hand – Did one but know!