Twenty years ago I married the love of my life.

It was a beautiful, wonderful wedding. The next day we flew to Paris via London on our honeymoon.

On our tenth anniversary we returned to Europe.

Thanks to covid and the closure of our borders I thought we would have no chance to repeating that for the twentieth. But I did think that we might revisit our wedding night hotel.

Thanks to the amazing vaccination effort by the people of New South Wales we could have bought tickets to Paris. But it also meant that the schools reopened earlier than first announced and a weekday night at a hotel is no longer an option.

Our kid is in high school now. We cannot just take a week off during term.

So I booked the hotel by the beach for the weekend, missing out on the perfect weather outside today, ordered flowers and an anniversary ring for my precious wife.

Our wedding reception restaurant in The Rocks was closed before covid. So we ate at our local Chinese and, after going so long without, enjoyed it more.

Yes, it was a splurge. But after the past couple of years, we deserved it. She deserved it.

The pandemic has been terrible for so many people. Yet I feel like the time it has given us together, working from home, has re-energised our relationship.

I am grateful for that.