Today Is Somebody's Birthday...

Once upon a time, a little more than seven years ago ago, my younger sister set me up on a blind date. I was in law school, it was finals time, but I went anyway.

We met at a cute little cafe on Broadway and sat at a table outside under the heat lamps that had been set up to ward off the early April chill. He was blond, blue-eyed and incredibly good looking, he told me a story about seeing a man get hit by a bus that made me laugh until I cried, and we shared a 10 block stroll back to my apartment building and a good-bye befitting a really good first date.

Well, a couple years later I married that blond-haired, blue-eyed man. We've been together for seven years - married for almost four - and it's been a lot of things, but mostly? It's been fun. Really fun. 

And today is his birthday.

So, in honor of the auspicious occasion of his birth, and in celebration of the day that this world went from being a place without David Merel to a place with David Merel, I present to you a pictorial history of seven years of fun.

It was spring when we met, summer when we
knew this was something serious. Something big.

We spent that first summer and fall exploring NYC
and eating Friday morning bagels
in the gazebo by the Central Park lake.

We got engaged...

Got married

Took some trips

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Bought a house

Remodeled a kitchen

Built some robots

Played with some technology 

Built a deck

That once looked like this...

And now looks like this.

Learned to grill

Played dress-up. Superheros, natch.

Watched lots and lots of TV

Turned our house into Star Wars for Halloween

Survived a Polar Vortex

And the snowiest winter of all time

Made a living room outside for summer

Where we sit, even in the pouring rain.

Discovered suburban outdoor, river-side dining

Took some convertible rides, because we're just that cool

Turns out, we're the lucky ones.

But we've always known that.

Happy, happy birthday David, my hilarious, unique and most interesting man. 

Here's to a lifetime more.