Married a Wonderful Man!

16 years ago today. He still makes me laugh. I still think he's cute. We have a lot of fun. We trust each other. Love him more today than I did 16 years ago. Amazing isn't it - how that works?

I thank God for him every day.

And ever so often, you run across something that brings back memories of the beginning. Such is the case this week. I found a box up against one of our walls "underground" which has a little mildew damage. One of the few boxes that is rarely touched and happens to have an assortment of memorabilia in it. Boo!

So I'm going through this box to toss out stuff I don't need to haul, for yet one more time, to the next place of residence. Stuff that should have been sorted years ago. The stuff you put in an envelope and say "I'll do that later when I have some free time." Free time comes when you realize that you have to clean up mildew spots and throw things away because "free time is too late." Fortunately, there hasn't been much I need to throw away. The biggest item is my volume of "Classic American Short Stories in Literature." Which I obviously read all the time. I think I'll survive for a while - until Rachel has to buy it in University (I'm assuming the American Short Story is still studied in University English classes)!

The box has letters from family and friends, various programs from weddings and a couple funereals, 1st Birthday announcements, class photos from my elementary years and things like this:

Yes, we had an itinerary for our wedding. Because we were a wedding party that was heavily made up of CPA's. Not just the 2 getting hitched.

When I look at that itinerary I think "what a geek!" I'm the one that set it up although I'm sure my sweet, on-time and loves "everything in order" husband-to-be had some input. I didn't throw it away.

When I look at that itinerary, I also see a picture: of a soon-to-be bride and her father in the driveway. It was a touching moment and I still love the memory of the look on my dad's face. He was shaking his head back and forth and grinning - amused and perplexed.

Because his 28 year old daughter was throwing a crying fit as we were trying to get in the car because we were *GASP* running about 13 1/2 minutes late to the church. According to the itinerary, we were arriving 2 hours before the ceremony to dress and take pictures - big deal. Stupid itinerary.

I think that's the only time I've ever cried about being late for something. I'm usually pretty relaxed about being late. Personal flaw I'm sure and a definite Social flaw here in Switzerland (I've gotten much better).

Guess what else I found? Our 1st Anniversary cards. They match. Pretty funny, huh? It wasn't the first time this happened!

When we first started dating, it was sometime late Fall and so we celebrated our first Christmas together with R & F (yes, CPA's and in our wedding - who in fact, caught our bouquet & garter and were married 3 months after us). I opened the card he gave me and looked at it confused. I looked at the envelope and it said "Susan" so I said "open your card, Bart." It was the same. We both stared and cracked up. Same thing happened that 1st Anniversary - bought the same card, different stores. Meant to be.

Hope you've enjoyed my little trip down memory lane. I hope mildewed boxes don't prompt your own trips.

I have to admit I saw that look on my dad's face one more time: He's in the living room with me, Rachel is about 6 days old and I burst into tears and said something to the effect that "she's already changed so much and someday she's going to be grown up and gone." He chuckled and said I had a few years to wait. :)