Our First Year

Silly me, I hadn't thought about this in a long time. But with our trip to Chicago and being near where we held our wedding and with it being just you and I for a few days, I started thinking back to when we first got married. What a romantic tale we share. What an amazing turn of events led us to this long life together. How we beat all the odds to get where we are today.

I know I blew all the pre-engagement stuff. I lamented for weeks over asking you. Certain you would say "no". Convinced that after hearing "no" there would be no way I could face you again. From Thanksgiving to Christmas that year I waffled back and forth on whether I was doing the right thing or whether the timing was right. Then I missed my first big chance. Christmas Day. You would remember it forever. He asked me on my favorite holiday. He couldn't afford a real gift so he gave me himself for life. It was perfectly romantic. However, in my mind you were going to say "no" and thus Christmas would be ruined forever. My roommate assured me I was wrong, but I still couldn't build the courage. The day came and went. Finally on New Years I decided to do it again. I would wait until the strike of the new year and ask after we shared a kiss. I almost got that right. Well not really. What I got was a hallway exit from the bathroom and a quick and scared "will you marry me". Figuring if you said "huh" or "no" I could laugh it off as a joke. If you said "yes" it would all be ok. Hardly romantic at the moment, but the month long process was very romantic in retrospect.

Then I blew the giving of the ring. I was so excited. I was so anxious to give you the single biggest and most important purchase of my life. I planned on it being romantic. But I didn't even come close. I have much regret on this one. I totally blew it. No excuses and a lifetime of apologies. Still that tiny ring fit so perfectly on your finger. We were official. Even if it took a microscope to find the diamond.

Then our best laid plans for a big wedding were interrupted by the ad-hoc visit to the justice of the peace. Married and not living together? Unheard of. Married and not able to really tell anyone? Seriously? It was ok, we had the big plans. The "licensing ceremony" allowed you to plan the blessed event. To make it perfect and everything you wanted it to be. We decided not to take the cash. Went with the ceremony. Then suddenly a trip to Nashville and a nosy co-worker and we were exposed. How unlikely and unlucky was that? Our secret marriage made public. Oh well, we could still explain the why and move on to the big moment.

Then we both have such incredibly lame roommates we find ourselves deciding to move in together. In all honesty I am not much of a "I remember details" guy, but I remember that little 550 square foot apartment. The first place I ever lived with you. With my wife. The first days of our real life together. It was incredible. Even if we did have to carry groceries up 1,000 stairs. Or if the dog took up as much room as either of us did. Or if the rats invaded once in while. Who cared. We were together in our first home together. Still planning all the while for the big ceremony.

Next came the Christmas outing at Six Flags. "When are you going to get off your lazy ass and have a baby" I asked. Unknown to either of us a single event intended to simply keep me from running off to school one night already had us there. For Christmas we got the ultimate gift. A baby on the way. It would certainly put a damper on our wedding plans, but I can't imagine either of us have ever been more pleased with ourselves. More scared and excited, more anticipating every moment of the rest of our lives. Sure you got sick, but we were about to go from being a married couple to being a family.

That pretty much sealed the deal on the wedding. Obviously we couldn't have the church ceremony. And I am not sure when we even decided to move forward with the party, but we did. It was a great time for all. But it was minor in comparison to what was happening between us. We were young and starting our family. We were naïve and together. Who cared? We had each other. Holding you in my arms as we danced to our song was a perfect moment in time. I can only wonder what all the eyes upon us were thinking. How the really thought we would turn out. I'll bet we surprised more than half of them (probably mostly on my family side right?).

It has been an incredible journey ever since. One more perfect day than the one before for 20+ years. A lifetime of holding hands, smiling at each other, kissing, amazement of our kids and happiness together. And yet no one ever imagined we would make it this far. No one figured we would make past the bad engagement, justice of the peace, blown proposal, rats, etc. Yet we did.

So when we were looking out over the golf course at the bar talking about the 377 person wedding all I could think was "they could only be so lucky to be us". No matter how perfect their ceremony, the engagement, the ring, the proposal or anything else was. They could only be so lucky to be us 20 years from now.

Thanks for making my life part of such a great story.

You're the world to me. I love you more than anything in the world.