Twenty-Five Years Together: The Girl I Met in Our Nursing Class

Today is our 25th wedding anniversary, and I keep finding myself going back to where it all started, almost thirty years ago now.

It was 1997, at our nursing school in Mahamodara, Galle, Sri Lanka. I was young, and she was young too, pretty, quiet, and a little shy. She was the kind of person you noticed without really knowing why. I remember feeling something when I first noticed her, but I had no idea what that feeling meant.

I certainly had no idea that the girl I kept glancing at across the classroom would one day become my wife, my best friend, and the person I would spend most of my life beside.

When I Started Noticing Her

A few weeks into our classes, a small group of us started studying together. We were supposed to be focusing on our nursing subjects, but if I'm honest, I spent quite a bit of that time studying her instead.

I noticed the way she talked, the way she carried herself, and her quiet, steady nature. Without really meaning to, I found myself paying more attention to her than I probably should have.

After a few months, something started to change inside me. It felt different, meaningful, and almost magical, but I wasn't sure what to call it. I'd thought I had been in love before, but this feeling was different.

Slowly, I began moving away from some of my previous connections and moving closer to her. I wasn't simply thinking about being with someone anymore. I was beginning to imagine a future with her.

It Wasn't a Smooth Beginning

Our relationship didn’t begin on a perfectly smooth road. Some of the bumps came from my own mistakes, the wrong behaviours I brought into the relationship, and the baggage I was still carrying from the past. At times, misunderstandings made our journey even harder than it needed to be.

There were times when things seemed to be going downhill, and we weren't always sure where things would end up. We were young, and we didn't always know how to deal with everything happening around us.

But somehow, we kept finding our way back to each other. Eventually, we decided to try again, this time with more thought and a clearer idea of what we wanted from life.

Looking back now, choosing each other again may have been one of the best decisions I have ever made.

From Nursing Students to Husband and Wife

We completed our nursing education, and the following year, we got married. Marriage didn't suddenly give us a perfect life. It gave us a real life, with bills, long shifts, uncertainty, responsibilities, and decisions we weren't always prepared to make.

We moved from place to place and worked in different hospitals. Life kept changing around us, but we tried to hold on to one thing that mattered most: our family.

Within a year, we became parents. Everything became harder and better at the same time. There were sleepless nights, financial worries, demanding work, and countless responsibilities, and looking back now, I realize she carried more of that weight than I understood at the time.

What I Didn't See

I have to be honest about something today. I don't think I gave her enough support during some of those early years.

I was deeply involved in my work, helping other people, spending time with friends, and getting involved in different projects. I wanted to be useful everywhere, but somewhere in all of that, I sometimes stopped paying enough attention to what was happening at home.

There were difficult days when she needed me, and I wasn't there in the way I should have been. I think about those moments now with regret. I can't go back and change them, but I can acknowledge them and learn from them.

She Carried So Much

There were times when I was abroad and she had to handle the challenges of our family largely on her own. There were other times when I was deeply involved in work and projects, and she quietly took on more of the responsibilities at home.

She cared for our children, managed the household, looked after me, and somehow kept everything moving. She didn't always complain about how much she was carrying, and perhaps that made it even easier for me to overlook just how much she was doing.

Then our second daughter came into our lives. One memory from that time has stayed with me. The day after her C-section, while she was still dealing with pain and discomfort, she got up and prepared food for the family.

She had every reason to rest and think about herself, but she was thinking about us instead. I don't think I fully understood at the time how much that must have cost her physically and emotionally. Today, I look back on that moment with a much deeper appreciation.

She Thought About Tomorrow While I Thought About Today

She was often a few steps ahead of me. While I was focused on work, friends, or whatever project had captured my attention, she was thinking about our children, our family, and what the future might look like.

There were days when she worked long hours and then came home to another full shift of cooking, cleaning, childcare, and looking after me. Some nights there wasn't much sleep, and some days there wasn't even enough time to eat properly.

Yet she kept going. She kept thinking about the family and the future, even when life was asking more from her than it seemed fair to ask.

The Decision That Took Us to Canada

Moving to Canada was largely her idea, and it became one of the biggest decisions of our lives. It was a positive step for our family, but it also meant starting over in a completely different country.

There were new systems to learn, new jobs, new responsibilities, and plenty of uncertainty. There were times when I wanted to give up on Canada and go back. She believed we could build something here, and she encouraged me to keep going when I wasn't sure myself.

Eventually, Canada became home. Not because the journey was easy, but because we kept showing up and facing the challenges together.

The Family We Built

When I look at our family today, I feel incredibly proud. She raised our two daughters through every stage of their lives, giving them love, patience, guidance, encouragement, and countless sacrifices that most people outside our home never saw.

Now, when I look at the women they have become, I know how much of that comes from her. She helped build the foundation beneath our family and gave our children a loving home.

She also gave me a home in every sense of the word.

Twenty-Five Years Later

Today, I feel many things at once. I'm happy, proud, and deeply grateful, but there is also a part of me that feels sad when I think about the ways I could have been a better husband.

I could have listened more. I could have noticed sooner when she was struggling. I could have given her more of my time instead of giving so much of it to work, projects, friendships, and everything else competing for my attention.

I can't go back and fix those moments. But I can be honest about them today. Perhaps getting older means learning to look back at your life not only through the memories you are proud of, but also through the moments that teach you where you could have done better.

And She's Still Here

After everything we've been through, she's still beside me. She still smiles, still reaches for my hand, and still shares this life with me.

We've had wonderful years and difficult ones. We've made mistakes, forgiven each other, learned, changed, and grown. Life has taken us places neither of us could have imagined when we first met, but somehow we kept finding our way back to each other.

And after twenty-five years, we're still here.

Together.

More Than a Wife

She's not just my wife. She's my best friend, my partner, and my backbone.

She's pushed me forward when I needed encouragement, helped me when I needed help, and stood beside me through some of the hardest stretches of our lives. There were plenty of times when she stood beside me more than I stood beside her, and I carry that realization with me.

When I look back at twenty-five years of marriage, I don't see a perfect marriage. I see two imperfect people who kept choosing each other, even when life wasn't easy.

That's what makes our story meaningful to me.

If I Could Go Back to 1997

Sometimes I picture that classroom in Mahamodara again. I see that young girl, pretty, quiet, and innocent, who somehow caught my attention without either of us knowing what was about to happen.

If I could go back and tell that younger version of myself everything that was waiting for him, he probably wouldn't believe me. He wouldn't know about the wedding, the hospitals, the children, the difficult years, the move to Canada, the laughter, the tears, or all the ordinary little moments that would eventually become our life.

But I would tell him one thing: don't let her go.

Because that girl would become your wife, your best friend, your family, and the person who would walk beside you through the next twenty-five years.

What I Want to Say to Her Today

Today, I don't want to give her a perfect speech. I simply want to say what is in my heart.

Thank you for choosing me and for staying with me through all the different chapters of our lives. Thank you for believing in us, especially during the times when I wasn't sure what our next step should be.

Thank you for our daughters and for everything you gave to our family while raising them. Thank you for the sacrifices I saw, and even more for the sacrifices I didn't fully understand at the time.

Thank you for supporting me, encouraging me, and reminding me to look toward the future. Thank you for carrying so much, often without asking for recognition or expecting anything in return.

Most of all, thank you for still holding my hand after everything we've been through.

If I could go back to that nursing classroom in 1997, knowing everything I know now, I would still look for you. I would still walk toward you, take your hand, and choose you all over again.

Not because our journey was perfect, but because it was ours. Somewhere between that nursing classroom and this moment, you became a part of everything that matters to me.

You became my family, my home, my closest friend, my strength, and my backbone.

I love you. I've always loved you. And I will love you until my last breath.

Happy 25th Wedding Anniversary, my love.

Twenty-five years behind us. Whatever comes next, let's walk it together.