If our relationship were a person it would be Ellen DeGeneres. It’s that lesbian.
There are those relationships that buck all the L Word stereotypes and take their time and maintain appropriate levels of emotional distance until, you know, it’s publicly acceptable.
And then there are the relationships that are the exact reason those stereotypes exist.
We are so firmly planted in the latter camp that we know the secret handshake and get invited to the annual BBQ picnic. We take a potato salad.
It was June 2008 and I was volunteering with Brisbane Pride Festival. Partly, to support the community. Mostly, to meet cute chicks. It was the end of a very cold and sunny Fair Day and I’d been manning the wrist banding table all day.
At the time I was living with and trying to be friends with my ex who had struck up a conversation with one of the volunteers. We all got to chatting about travel and I learned her name was Shan. She’d recently arrived home from a couple of years overseas and we invited her to join us at the Pride after-party at The Wickham.
A bottle of sparkles later and we were flirting. I asked her if she wanted a tequila shot. She said no. I asked her if she wanted to try the new tequila shot, the ‘Lick, Sip, Suck, Pash.’ She said yes.* We shot, we pashed. We kissed until daylight.
Two weeks in I told her I loved her. Six weeks in most of her clothes were in my wardrobe. The week of our three month anniversary we celebrated by moving in together.
For our one year anniversary we went away to the Gold Coast for a romantic weekend. She gave me a book filled with pictures and receipts and quotes from our whole first year together. I gave her a book I had written about a girl with my name who falls in love with a girl with her name. At the very end, the girl with my name asks the girl with hers to marry her. She said yes. We pashed.
Four months later we married in Vancouver, Canada and honeymooned in New York, San Francisco and Los Angles.
We came home, moved to the ‘burbs, adopted a dog, bought a house and finally started our family.
Today, we’re coming up to six very happy years together and we still pash all the time. We have a beautiful two year old daughter, Quin, and we’re eagerly awaiting the arrival of our new baby who is due in July.
Now you know how we came to be, we can get into the juicy baby stuff next time.
*Several months into our relationship I offered Shan another tequila shot. She told me she hates them and hasn’t had one since. She just really wanted to kiss me.
Author: Zann Michaels aka gaybymama