Celebrations

23 years ago today, I married my husband. It was a large wedding (thanks, in part, to his Italian Catholic heritage), 6 bridesmaids and groomsmen, 300 people invited. I stayed in the hotel room we'd be staying in that night, partly so I didn't have to drive all the way into Jersey from Philly. My best friend and I went to the woman that was going to do my hair and make-up for the wedding. And it was raining. Part of me was upset that it wouldn't be a beautiful sunny day. Until I got a text from Hubby saying, "Rain is good luck! I'll buy a lottery ticket." It changed my whole attitude.

My wedding was a combination of lots of friends and family obligations. We'd met on a message board called the Straight Dope Message Board. A majority of our friends were from there and having them as part of our wedding - whether in the wedding itself or as guests - was wonderful. One friend had a classic Caddy. He drove my dad and I to the wedding and Hubby and I to the reception. Another friend sang at the wedding. A third did a reading (one of my last memories of her - she died less than a year later from an epileptic seizure.) We were surrounded by love. I just wish we'd had more time to actually spend with them.

( Some of the highlights from my wedding and reception: )

As I mentioned before, we decided to celebrate our anniversary yesterday instead of today. We went to the movies to see Coyote vs Acme. I think there may have only been one other person in the theater, but that's what happens in matinees a couple weeks after a movie premiers. It was so, so, so much fun! There were a lot of Easter Eggs, a ton of comedy, some really heartwarming moments, and John Cena as an oily lawyer. Hubby really enjoyed it, so I may buy it for him for Christmas.

Afterward, we went to Red Lobster. It had been awhile since we'd been and we were both kind of in the mood for seafood. (Hey. it's Tennessee. We don't do fresh seafood as well.) We were there around four and there was about a 10 minute wait, even though the restaurant looked pretty empty. We were seated somewhat quickly. While chatting with our waitress (which I almost always do), I found out that she had just come on shift and there was only one other server on. And that server's shift was almost over. I'd ordered a Passion Fruit spritz to drink, and the pick two of shrimp, with a side of hushpuppies and bacon wrapped scallops. Hubby ordered soda and the fisherman's delight, along with an appetizer of stuffed mushrooms. I'm glad I got a water as well because I didn't get my drink until the meal was almost over. I wasn't upset about it because these poor girls were run ragged. Both our waitress and the other waitress (who also happened to be the bartender) came over to apologize and they comped my drink. When our waitress found out it was our anniversary, we also got a comped dessert to share. For all that the service wasn't what I'd have expected if they had more help, I know they were doing the best they could and I couldn't fault them for it.

The drink, when it came, amused me. Passionfruit and Tito's vodka with a gold dusted piece of dried starfruit as a garnish. The way the garnish was placed looked like it was just kicking back in the pool, relaxing. "Oh Patrick, what has become of you?" was Hubby's quip when he saw it.

From there, we just went home, had some married couple fun and then I fell asleep. It was a good, happy and wonderful day that was a true celebration of our marriage - not always when and where we're supposed to be, but always enjoying ourselves together.

I'm not sure what today will bring. I'm sitting on the porch, enjoying the sunshine and writing. Hubby has a game at 3. I suspect lunch will be our leftovers. But it's all a good way to start our 24th year as a married couple.

Oh, and as a side note - I was sitting here on the porch, starting to type of this entry, when a hummingbird came flying to the porch. My mom loved hummingbirds. And I had never seen one here. I think Mom was coming to wish me a Happy Anniversary.

September Memories

I was reading inchoatewords's rememberences from 9/11. I hadn't posted any myself because I'm used to everyone having already heard my story over and over (it was a regular feature on 9/11 on both Livejournal and then my Facebook) but as I read her experience, I realized that there were many here that didn't. Did anyone care? Well, Nicole said she'd like to read it if I'd like to write it. So here I am, two days later, on my wedding anniversary, remembering that time.

( This will get long )

I mentioned in other comments that I actually tried to reclaim that time of year by having my wedding day be September 13, 2003. And for the most part, it's worked. I still can remember that day and I still have a hole in my heart. But the time of year is happier. Not only is my anniversary on the 13th, but my youngest child was born on the 23rd. September is now a time I'm looking forward to yearly, even if I do pause on the 11th every year.