It is five years since that Sunday when my wife and I, hand in hand, went down the dark stairs to enter the basement of the Setagaya Ward Office and get married. I remember us standing at the top of the stairs, looking down, seeing the pipes on the wall going down into the basement, thinking that we cannot possibly have come to the right place, that this was more like the beginning of a zombie-movie than a marriage. But as it turned out the little office in the dark basement with all the pipes was the right place to hand in marriage papers on a Sunday, and we have ever since remembered that special feeling while holding the image of the future of our marriage as a bright staircase going upwards instead.
So much that has happened in these short five years. My life really started anew on every level when I asked my wife to marry me and moved to Japan away from everything that I knew. When our little son was born less than two years later, in the middle of the pandemic, and our little family moved to the outskirts of Fukuoka city and started to create a family life together, my life one more time started all over again.
After many challenging years in Sweden, being given the chance to have a new life not only once but twice is truly a blessing I often remind myself to be grateful for. I sometimes wish that life could slow down a bit now, could let me calmly catch up to five years of life changing turmoil and growth, but I have come to terms with that having a growing son means my life will continue to change as long as I live, and occasionally probably more than I would want. Having a wife to share everything and grow together with, makes whatever change that is coming seem manageable though. And looking at my son makes me feel that whatever challenges we may face, it will be worth it ten times over.
One the biggest changes to our married life since having a son, is that we almost never have any time just the two of us. Between work, housekeeping, child rearing and all other necessities of life, a few tired evenings a week is the most we can hope for as husband-wife-time. On our fifth year wedding anniversary though, we managed to create a few hours for ourselves, and took the opportunity to enjoy afternoon tea together at Fortum and Mason in Tenjin, downtown Fukuoka. We felt like we were thrown back to our early days, living just the two of us in a mini apartment in Futakotamagawa, occasionally treating ourselves to an afternoon tea at the Fortum and Mason in the nearby Takashimaya shopping center. Celebrating five years of marriage, we promised each other that we would not wait for our tenth wedding anniversary before coming back again to enjoy a bit of happy nostalgia together.
To my wonderful beautiful lovely wife, thank you for saying yes to me, thank you for your love, thank you for making it possible for us to have a wonderful family together. I love you more than I can say, and look forward to our next five years together.
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Happy anniversary to both of you, my Japanese friends!
/ Johanna
Thank you so much Johanna!!!