Time Magazine described it as "The Year That Changed the World". A bold statement considering the same could, and should, be said about every year of human history. Historians will tell us that our understanding of the past is never final. What are thought to be world-changing events often dim into obscurity while seemingly less significant events are the ones that have the lasting impact. Yet as one looks back it would appear that particular year could indeed lay claim to this auspicious title.
It was 1989. The Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska's Prince William Sound. Student protests swelled to demonstrations of more than one million people in China culminating in a final stand-off and massacre in Tiananmen Square that was covered live on television. A wave of revolutions that swept Eastern Europe opened the Berlin Wall and led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
There were countless other events that happened in 1989 whose significance would be felt as the years unfolded: the world's first HDTV broadcast took place in Japan, satellite TV was launched in Europe, Motorola introduced the MicroTac personal cell phone (then the world's smallest mobile phone), the first Al-Qaeda-related cell in the U.S began operating in New York City, South African President Botha met with imprisoned Nelson Mandela face to face, and Tim Berners-Lee produced the proposal document that would become the blueprint of the World Wide Web.
Something else happened that year and while it didn't change the world it certainly changed me. I married the love of my life. The calendar tells me that as of this week I will have been married for 25 years; 25 years of milestones and minutiae that have culminated in an anniversary just over 40% of couples actually see. All year long TV networks and newspaper editorials have been revisiting some of what happened in 1989 since it is often interesting to catch up with the impact of an event 25 years after the fact. I won't exaggerate and say all year long I have been taking stock of 25 years of marriage but I can't help but be slightly introspective as my husband and I approach the two and a half decade mark. The thing that struck me most was the seemingly incidental interactions that on their face may not have seemed important yet in the perspective of the rear view were significant in laying the groundwork for what was to come.
If someone were to examine our marriage from the outside they would likely take note of the big moments; buying a house, becoming parents, job changes, health challenges or losses we've experienced. But to focus on those events is to do so at the expense of the day-in, day-out marvellous and mundane things that have made each day notable in its normalcy and bountiful in its blessedness. On our deck enjoying a great cup of coffee my husband and I have tackled more topics than a year's worth of Time Magazines, but those conversations couldn't have happened so easily had we not had all kinds of talks about anything and everything on a daily basis.
From the outside we think we are seeing something that matters, but marriage and other important relationships are knit together by those everyday things that aren't seen by onlookers but are interwoven through shared experience that find fuller meaning because of the person by our side.
The events of 25 years ago are certainly being felt today in the economic, political, security, technological and entertainment arenas, put it wasn't just the protests, revolutions, or inventions of that year that matter. It was every idea, meeting, innovation, failure and re-start that took place prior that resulted in what was seen that year. The work put in and the momentum needed to get to that place found its start long before.
That dream holiday depicted in the family pictures is great but what is even better are all the excited conversations at the dinner table prior to departure. Showing off completed home renovations is wonderful but recalling all the late-night talks about relocating cupboards, choosing paint colors, and where the doors should go is even more memorable.
Marking a significant anniversary is important, but cherishing the moments that have built upon one another over the years is a bigger thing to celebrate. The same is true of life. What came before determines what is happening now and that will lay the groundwork for what is to come. That's my outlook.
