Number 5

Two weekends past Aya and I had our 5th wedding anniversary. I can't believe its been 5 years, they have just flown by. To celebrate we went for a night at the Grand Millennium in downtown Beijing. We had afternoon tea, then went for massages nearby and came back for evening cocktails. As we sat looking over Beijing we discussed the future, our families, and what 5 years has meant to us. We also spent most of the evening trying to remember what we had done the past 4 anniversaries! We have had a lot of changes since the first, moving from Japan to Shanghai then Penang and now Beijing. Things change, but something that hasn't changed is the sentiment that I expressed on our first anniversary.
It is hard to imagine a life without Aya. She has been, not my rock, but my best friend. A companion that I can be completely honest with and someone who will not judge me harshly, but strive to understand my hopes and dreams and to make them together. We are pretty happy with our lives here and fortunate to have the freedom and ease of life that we do. We both enjoy our jobs and the culture we live in as well as all the experiences that we have.
Often we have talked about having a child and how that might change our lives. While we aren't against it, we aren't exactly for it either. While I was home for my grandfather's funeral this past week I was around a lot of family. My grandfather was the patriarch, with 4 children, 8 grandchildren, and 16 great grandchildren. He will go on in all of them (and me!). A child is a source of immortality and I think that is part of the desire to have a child too. I'm not so interested in having myself go on though, I am more interested in a little Aya.
For now, its just the two of us here on the 5th anniversary, but who knows. Maybe on the 6th there will be someone else too.