It's my birthday! I went out to lunch with my boss and am having dinner with family and friends. Well, sort of. You see, about ten years ago, I participated in a strange mystical ceremony where I became 'one flesh' with the person I loved.

Today, it is Kim's birthday. Through the mystical ceremony, I am one flesh with her, so to that extent, it is also my birthday. I was with Kim, as part of being one flesh, as she had dinner with her boss. We will be one flesh as she eats dinner with our family and friends this evening.

Whenever she is joyful, it is no longer just she who is joyful, it is both of us. The same applies to sadness and sickness. Today, we also mourn the death of Kim's mother, who left this world eleven years ago today, when Kim and I were having dinner with Kim's father, brother and sister-in-law.

Over the past couple of years, I've had a horrible time fighting lyme disease. While a doctor might test my blood and find no traces of lyme disease in me, being of one flesh with Kim, I have lyme disease. We have experienced the disease in different ways, just as the nose and the stomach may experience different aspects of the flu, but we have fought this together.

In a similar fashion, a couple years ago, Kim and I developed a shellfish allergy. We first noticed it when I prepared shrimp for her for mother's day. It is disappointing that I cannot eat shrimp or lobster any more. Yet in fact, really, I can. It is just that my other digestive system, Kim's, needs to eat the lobster, and not I.

Being Friday, I am putting this up as a Follow Friday post. If you follow me on Twitter, you should follow @khynes2000 as well.

Not only is today Kim's (and by extension, my) birthday. It also sees the celebration of anniversaries of some friends. @ctnewsjunkie and her husband celebrated their third wedding anniversary this week. Tomorrow, @SheSoSocial and her husband are celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary.

I hope their relationships may flourish the way Kim and mine has.

A final thought: I had a philosophy professor that commented, "It isn't love that keeps marriage together, it is marriage that keeps love together." Kim and I have had some pretty rough times over the past decade. I'm sure we will have plenty more. If we were relying on the first flush of love to keep our marriage together, things probably would have been more difficult when we went through hard times. Yet it is birthdays and anniversaries, it is marriage, that is our opportunities to be reminded of and rekindle those early days of mad love.

Happy Birthday, Kim.