The best feeling in the world

We're walking downtown side by side, on a nice day for January... By some bizarre twist of fate, as a good part of Western Europe and most of the US are experiencing unheard of freezing temperatures, we are having a warm, I would even say comfortable winter so far, and on that day it's even above the freezing point.

M points to the left, saying: "We had lunch there, once, you know?" He's smiling, knowingly. And it doesn't come back to me instantly, but then I remember, too. It was more than five years ago, after a meeting with clients. We weren't a couple then, just friendly co-workers who had been assigned on the same project, although at that point I had finally realized he was the right one for me and certainly had hopeful feelings.

"You had niçoise salad, and I blood sausage." And it was true. That long lunch was wonderful. We talked open-heartedly, flirted a lot, and it felt so good and clear and natural. I remember coming back to the office with a huge smile on my face, basking in that happy feeling all afternoon long.

I wouldn't have recognized the place, but he remembered everything. In hindsight, that lunch was probably the first day of the new, (mostly) happy, serene, positive, era I'm still in, after some of the most difficult years of my life. And everything in that era revolves around M.

And my glance goes from the restaurant to him, my guy, then to the stroller he's pushing, with in it, a nearly 3 year-old boy, chatting excitingly, sometimes a handful but so gorgeous and lively and adorable.

Look at what we've done in five years, I tell myself... Look at where we are. Still going strong, M still so loving and considerate and with a knack for little non-cheesy romantic gestures like that. Many trips and exciting experiences. A house and yard half redone to our taste. Of course, a child that changed our lives and whom we love more than anything else. And as of 8 months, shiny bands on our fingers.

I am so blessed.