06/09/2022

Anniversary Month

September is one of my favourite months of the year.

It’s up there with Christmas and Thanksgiving. I got married in September four years ago. I moved countries in September. My Mum was born in September, and so was my sister. It means the end of winter in Australia and the end of summer in America. It’s a month that precedes the holiday season and celebrates some of the best things in my life. 

The thing I love most about September is that I get to celebrate Justice and the life we’re building together. I get to look at how much we’ve grown as we take another lap around the sun. 

I look at him especially closely in September. Sometimes it’s inadvertent. I’ll notice something about him like the flecks of blond in his beard getting whiter. Or his newest mannerism, like quoting a favourite show. Currently, we both love to mimic Matt Berry in What We Do in the Shadows. We’re particularly fond of the way he pronounces “Tuscon, Arizona.”

Loving Justice takes little effort. He’s low-maintenance and easy to delight. In the evenings over the last couple of weeks, we’ll take walks along the Peace River. We pass the gazebo we got married in, where groups of elderly people play country music together on Thursday nights. Justice will take in a deep breath as if he’s inhaling the moment. He’ll look over to me with a big grin and say “this is perfect. It’s a beautiful night, and I’m out walking by the water with my best friend.” I’ll grin back at him and feel a big, warm, wash of calm. This is how I know he’s my person. From day dot he’s always provided this unwavering sense of peace. 

Justice is careful and kind. He’ll collect bunnies from the backyard that have fled their burrow before he mows the grass. He’ll visit his mother to help her figure out why her television remote no longer cooperates. He’s learnt another language to communicate with his colleagues who don’t speak English. He patiently takes swift kicks from the dog as she cowers and squirms during her monthly nail clipping. He works on his feet for eight hours then comes home and teaches himself how to code. He is persevering and principled.

He has quirks that make him love him even more. He’ll say goofy things like “what the fudge,” because he doesn’t like to swear. When we listen to Wage War or A Day to Remember he’ll pretend to pass the “mic” to me so that I’ll sing the curse words. When I cook a new dish he’ll swoon, enraptured in our latest home-cooked meal. He constantly tells me things like “I’ve got a hot Australian wife who makes an amazing sweet potato salad!” He is proud of my tiniest achievements. He is proud of our life. I couldn’t be luckier. 

This month, I felt it necessary to share the magic of Justice. Why not let everyone celebrate him a little bit? This man makes everyone he meets laugh. He is the least judgemental person I know. He loves his family and friends deeply. He actively looks for the good in people. In many ways, he is someone I aspire to be like. I am fortunate to be married to someone who is forever teaching me and growing with me. I am grateful to be married to someone who I love more and more every day. I am humbled to be the other half of “team Emerick.”

This month, I urge you to find the people you’re grateful for and tell them what they mean to you.

Food For Thought

"The difference between misery and happiness depends on what we do with our attention."
— Sharon Salzberg

"Maturity is knowing that when your mood is down you should not trust the way you see yourself."
— Yung Pueblo

"There is no way home. Home is the way."
— Thich Nhat Hanh