It Was Twenty Years Ago Today

Yesterday was our 20th wedding anniversary.

One the one hand, it’s incredible. About half of first marriages don’t last 20 years, so the odds aren’t good on average. But on the other hand, we’re not average. We didn’t rush into getting married. In fact, we had to overcome major geographical, legal and financial hurdles to even get to a point where we could consider getting married. I wonder how the stats go for people who have to really put effort in?

We went out to a fondue restaurant. We did this even though we know full well that fondue was invented by a cartel of Swiss cheese makers as a marketing exercise. These days the chocolate cartels have gotten in on the action too. It was a delicious and excessive evening.

Also coming up is my 20th year working at big blue. Marriage, unemployment and reemployment happened to me in quick succession back in 1999. This is convenient in a way, because it gives me one less set of dates to remember. Twenty years at one company is almost as incredible as 20 years of marriage, in an industry where changing employer every couple of years is the norm. I have changed job multiple times, but I keep finding interesting work within the same company. The entire industry is currently undergoing a major shift to cloud technologies, and that has meant plenty of new things to learn.

Last week we gave in and joined the Canadian cult and bought an Instant Pot. Tonight I made a sweet potato soup with ginger and broccoli. Everything was done in the pot, from sauteeing the onions and garlic to steaming the broccoli and eventually cooking everything together. End result: delicious.