Nine

I wasn't one of those girls who had their whole wedding planned out by the time I was in middle school. I didn't think about who would be there, the dress I'd wear, the location of the service. Even after Shawn and I started dating and our relationship progressed to the point where I knew he was the one I'd spend forever with, the big white wedding wasn't something I thought about. My goals were always the period of time after that big day ~ the daily grind... being a wife... cooking dinner... keeping house... having babies.

But once we decided to get married, and then set a date, I started planning. It was to be the week of Valentine's Day (which gave us less than a year to plan) of 1999. We met in college and there is the cutest little chapel on the grounds of the university that we thought would be perfect... with the reception following in the Student Union there. It started to all come together in my mind ...

Once Shawn joined the Army, things progressed a little differently than we thought. He enlisted earlier than we planned and in order for me to be able to join him and make things less complicated as far as paperwork goes, we felt we needed to be married before he left for Basic Training. So we pushed the date up a bit.

Our nine months to plan turned into three weeks. We naively thought that everything would go off without a hitch (no pun intended), where the Army was concerned and we could have a service with the Justice of the Peace and then do the white wedding with our friends and family later, during a Christmas break. Well that didn't happen... as plans change when you are a part of the military.

It was a beautiful crisp October day in Lafayette, Indiana, where we were living. Shawn's family was there and my family was there. It was short and sweet and officiated by Pat Smith. I'll never forget her because of her ambiguous name (isn't that awful?). She was really cute and told us to be kind to each other... After our short ceremony, we went to the club house in my In-Law's neighborhood, where they had a cake, more friends & family, and a party so we could celebrate our union.

We never had a honeymoon ~ just a weekend in Chicago. We'd never been there, at least not together and as adults. We stayed in a dinky hotel just west of town and road the train into town, feeling very grown up at the ripe old ages of barely 21 and 23.5. We visited tourist attractions and made love all weekend.

It was perfect.

We talked about renewing our vows, having a big party, inviting everyone that didn't go because they thought, as we did, that we'd do the big white wedding later... But somehow it doesn't seem as important now. Because it's a part of our history. It's where we officially became an "us".

And I love what "us" has come to be... All of it. The good, the bad, and everything in between. "Us" just feels right to me. It's home.

Happy Anniversary, Honey. Thank you for nine mostly wonderful years. Thank you for being my rock, my partner in crime & in parenting, my "does this make my butt look big?" observer, my biggest supporter, my lover, my comic relief, my inspiration, my confidant, my zipper~upper, and most importantly, my friend.

I love you.