21 years ago today

Twenty-one years ago today, I arrived in New Zealand as a tourist. It was, at the time, a very big deal, became less so, was forgotten for awhile, then became a “thing” again. This anniversary has had quite a life.

On September 12, 1995, I got off a United Airlines flight from Melbourne, and met Nigel in person for the first time. That’s part of what I said last year, and in many ways, it’s the most important part. Nigel and I got to know each other over the Internet—back when people just didn’t do that, certainly not meeting someone and moving to the other side of the planet. We took a giant leap of faith, though it didn’t seem like it at the time.

But because I later applied for permanent residency (and then, later still, citizenship), the New Zealand Government calculated my time in New Zealand from the date I first arrived in New Zealand: September 12, 1995.

While those changes to my legal status both eventually made this date unimportant, it was what happened back in the USA that really made me stop noticing for many years: September 12 in New Zealand is September 11 in the USA, and that day in 2001 casts a long shadow.

In fact, I only started observing it again, really, when I started blogging, and I’ve posted about it every year since (though at first I only mentioned it). Now, I joke that this marks the beginning of the Season of Anniversaries, something that exists more as a staple of this blog than an actual thing in my daily life.

As I often point out, November 2 has always been the important anniversary because that’s the date I arrived in New Zealand to stay, and we began our life together. Since then, we’ve had other “big days” to remember, too.

But because everything really began on this date in 1995, I think it’s worth remembering. And as long as I have a blog, I will.

Previous posts about this anniversary (the first three only mention it):

Anniversay Time (2007)
Blogoversary 2 (2008)
Anniversaries Three and Fourteen (2009)
Where it began (2010)
Anniversary of the beginning (2011)
Another anniversary (2012)
18 years ago today (2013)
19 years ago today (2014)
Twenty years ago today (2015)