8 years ago

It was cold that day.  I remember waiting at the back of the church, freezing cold in the silk dress my mom had made, watching out the door and seeing a few flakes of snow drift down.  In October!  I would have been annoyed or amused, but I was preoccupied.  The woman at the back told me it was time, and I grabbed my parents’ arms, entered the sanctuary and saw all these faces turn to look at me.  I had been calm and collected, but the sight of all those faces of family and friends broke me down.  And there was Chris, at the front of the church, waiting for me.  I think we both smiled through tears.

8 years ago today

I don’t actually remember much about the service except that my feet were freezing cold on the cold stone floor.  We have an audio cassette tape of the whole thing, so I could listen to it.  If I had a tape player.  Who has tape players these days?  My car doesn’t even play tapes.

I remember walking out of the church and laughing, and seeing a friend who had run into troubles finding a parking spot.  He arrived 18 minutes late.  He missed the whole service.  It was short.  But it was sweet.

At the reception, our photographer was getting antsy since we had only booked him for the first hour or so, he wanted to be sure to get a picture of us toasting.  The champagne wasn’t opened yet, so in our photos, we’re toasting with beer.  The food was very good (we were worried because we hadn’t actually done any tastings).  The friends and family were even better.

I am so happy that we shared those vows eight years ago, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.  And it keeps getting better.  If things are this good now, I can’t wait to see what the next 8, 16, 32, or hell even 64 years hold for us.