The very beginning part of a relationship can be quite difficult as the two people struggle to define boundaries and agree on definitions.

Ailish and I first met in the middle of August, 2007. From very early on, we played the occasional board game. Later, we would discover the joy that was Settlers of Catan, a game Ailish won about 2/3 of the time, but early on, I tended to win most of the games we played, much to Ailish’s annoyance. So, with that in mind, I asked Ailish in an email on September 2nd, 2007, if she thought I was cheating.

Ailish’s carefully worded response was to question if we were officially dating (something we had not yet discussed) and, if so, we had better be exclusive and I had better not be cheating. Clearly underlying her wording was the guarantee that my answer had better be clear and straightforward because even the possibility was unacceptable to her.

I pointed out that, errrm, that wasn’t what I meant at all. Indeed, the email had just been talking about board games before I asked her about cheating.

But, hey. That was as good a time as any. So I officially asked her out, after clarifying that I wasn’t cheating on her, and telling her how much I enjoyed spending time with her and how much I liked her. And of course, Ailish said yes.

So I count the official start of our relationship from September 2nd, 2007. Ailish always counted from our first date at Marahari, but hey, the occasional disagreement just adds spice to a relationship. I never did confirm that I wasn’t cheating at board games.