Standing with me in the rain

Excerpt from the BexLyrical newsletter on Substack.

To this day, that hot, tropical, torrential rain instantly takes me back to that moment in Bangkok. Hand-in-hand we stand watching the rain come down in the darkness, technically under cover but, feeling the drops splash back up off the paved floor and creating vast, deepening puddles that reflect the lights of the Seven-Eleven behind us.

As I sit here writing this, it is exactly 11 years since I met my partner. So I am feeling a little soppy and a little loved up. I’m daydreaming little trips down memory lane and staring off into the distance with heart emoji eyes…I make no apology, I am hugely grateful to have him in my life. My life now looks unrecognisable to what it did back then but, despite all the ups and downs of the past decade and a bit, we are as strong as ever and I am so very glad that I have him on my team. This is definitely an appreciation post of him, but also just a reflection on the importance of finding your people and how they help build a happy life.

When we met - on a plane, flying to Germany - one of the first things that drew me towards him were the stories that he had. He had spent his 20s working and travelling around the world! I felt like he had really lived a life. He had experienced things. He had dared to go against the grain - and he was better for it. He wasn’t afraid to be himself. And I just wanted so desperately to be a part of his world. I wanted to feel alive. I wanted stories to tell of a life well lived. It inevitably became an ongoing discussion of how he was going to take me along to relive some of his favourite adventures and, (finally!) in 2019, he did exactly that.

Disillusioned by life in London, we packed up our bags and jumped on a plane to Bangkok, Thailand with 100 days of travelling SE Asia ahead of us. We touched down in Bangkok - mid-September 2019 - and my world exploded open. It has never been the same since…

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Continued on Substack - read it now.