Forty Years, Ten Married, One Toilet Roll Hat 🎶

There was a stranger in the wrong seat at the lecture hall,

You didn't know his name but something made you look.

Turns out the boy you'd been watching was me all along—

Later I'd fashion headwear from Andrex when the cold came on.

You'd hand your coursework in, they'd say it looked like mine,

We both knew the truth but I got full marks every time.

We don't do things the typical way,

Moved in together the very same day,

Can't remember when we started, really—

Friends with benefits sounds about right to me.

You arranged our whole wedding like it was destined to be,

An arranged marriage, Sophie—you arranging you and me.

I gave you a ring for your birthday, said something vague,

"If you think this means what you think, would you say yes anyway?

If not, happy birthday"—that's how I asked you to stay.

We've known each other longer alive now than we haven't,

Decade married, and the math keeps getting better as we go.

From Liverpool to Port of Spain, then Barbados for a year,

Shipped our whole lives across the ocean, just to ship it all back here.

We started Perched with furniture too heavy to lift,

Should've begun with something smaller—live and learn and shift.

Got married Easter Sunday down in Tobago's heat,

I'll always remember our anniversary—the date just likes to cheat.

You walk in a room and everybody stops,

That confidence you've had since day one never drops.

We've moved through Cascade, Maraval, all over this island,

Lost loved ones, gained new ones, got Beans, then got Charlie.

You cry at the news because you're kind, so impossibly kind,

You tolerate me—God knows how—but I'm grateful you're mine.

We fall asleep to Netflix, you always nod off first,

I nudge you awake till I give up and leave you on the couch.

We're borderline alcoholics, love a lime, love a fete,

Love to host one, attend one, and know just when to leave.

We're good on holiday, we always say—less arguing there,

Our holiday versions, tanned and laughing, not a single care.

You're accident-prone, always cut or bruised somehow,

Allergic to Trinidad's outdoors but you're here with me now.

We've festivalied, tripped on mushrooms, camped under stars,

Hosteled and hoteled, saved each other from going too far.

Our friends are yours—if we ever split, you'd take them all,

But that's not happening, Soph, we're in this for the long haul.

Forty years you've been turning the world,

Ten of them married to this ridiculous boy.

You're my best friend, my partner in every crime,

The love of my life, and I'm so glad you're mine.

Here's to the next chapter, whatever it brings—

Same wrong seat in the lecture hall, same everything.