}

Friday, November 02, 2018

Twenty Three Years Together

Today is the biggest anniversary: Twenty-three years ago today, November 2, 1995, I arrived in New Zealand to live. It was the day that Nigel and I began our life together, and it became the date we observed as our anniversary. Later we had many other dates to choose from, and all of them matter for their own reasons. But this date is the most special of them all.

I used to call this my “expataversary”, because it’s the day I officially became an expat. It was also the day that my story in New Zealand began. I later shared those stories on this blog, my podcast, or even my YouTube videos, so, in sense, they’re all directly related to that “expataversary”.

But, the expat aspect diminished in significance as the years have passed because my life is so firmly entwined with this country, and with Nigel, of course. As I said last year:
“…because this date was when Nigel and I began our life together, it has even greater personal importance. Sure, that couldn’t have happened if the expat thing hadn’t happened, but when looking at what matters most to my life, how it unfolded, how my life was changed and shaped, it was beginning life with Nigel that matters more than anything else in my life, including the arrival here—which made all that possible.”
So, while this date has always been significant for multiple reasons—including for this blog—it’s the personal aspects of it that matter the most. I can’t see that ever changing.

Here’s to 23 more!

Posts from previous years:
Twenty Two Years Together (2017)
Twenty One Years Together (2016)
Twenty Years Together (2015)
Surreal 19th Expataversary (2014)
Eighteen (2013)
The day that really mattered (2012)
Sweet sixteen (2011)
Fifteen (2010)
Fourteen (2009)
Lucky 13: Expataversary and more (2008)
Twelfth Anniversary (2007)
Eleven Years an Expat (2006)

Related:
Ex, but not ex- – A 2006 post about being an expat
Changing policies and lives – A 2011 post about becoming a permanent resident
12 years a citizen – A 2014 post about becoming a NZ citizen
Foreign-born human – A 2015 post re-examining the word “expat”

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