Evolution of Samurai and Boyfriend

We went to a wedding this weekend of a college friend/roommate. This caused The Boyfriend and I to marvel at how much our old college buddy had changed. We’ve known him since our freshman year in college, 10 years this fall. Of course people change over a time period like that. In the few visits over the years since college I had not picked up on the cues while my other half had. He had been watching the progression from rebellious beatnik poet to someone more interested in the party and following the expectations of society. The overwhelming display of personal tastes that is the nature of a wedding drastically highlighted this change for me. It made me sad but it also made me wonder about myself.

In a few days The Boyfriend and I will have been together for 11 years. It’s hard to imagine a time when we weren’t together. Nearly half of our lifetimes have been spent in unity. 13 years ago I started sophomore year at a new High School and met a boy who would change my life. Looking back at ourselves we realized that we too must have changed over such a long period of time. We concluded that there have been three major shifts for us both;

1. We are far more liberal, I was more liberal from the start which means that I’m still more liberal but the conservative boy debating in high school civics classes about war and the economy would not recognize the man I’m married to today. And the girl who was once quoted in the local newspaper campaigning to bring home our troops would be shocked at my opinions on the current war and economy.
2. We both value the environmental and animals far more than our younger selves. I think most people would agree that they are more aware of the environment now as the entire society has shifted to concerns on global warming and reducing waste but becoming vegetarians was not something either of us planned.
3. Neither of us has much use for pop culture. The Boyfriend spends minimal time watching sports, which used to be his consuming passion. And without cable I do not find myself missing mainstream TV. I am far more content to listen to an audio book and knit, from the child who was tortured by her father’s need to sit and read every evening rather than watch TV.
   

There are other smaller things like Mac, Linus and Isitt, he would never have had a cat without me and I would never have imagined that cat showing would be something I’d enjoy. And our current choices of occupations, are definitely not what we set out to do. But in the end I think what matters most is that we have evolved together. He doesn’t mind my knitting and I love discussing philosophy with him in between books. And I write all this to you as I download N’Sync onto my Ipod because it’s been awhile since I’ve listened to them. Yeah, probably since high school. So not everything changes.