Eleven Years

Eleven years ago tomorrow, we were married. We had had our first date at the beginning of August, 1998 (dinner at Outback and then a movie - "Saving Private Ryan.") We got engaged on Labor Day weekend, and began planning our wedding shortly thereafter, choosing May 29th, 1999 for our big day.

It was a picture-perfect spring day for our outdoor wedding. There were only about 40 guests, mostly family. We had a potluck meal (yes, seriously - everyone brought a side dish) and we hired someone to grill out. There was a wonderful cheesecake for our wedding cake, a little 3-piece band for some music and Wayne, our fired-up preacher who performed the ceremony. We wrote our own vows, and had our guests gather in a circle around us as we were married.

We look so much younger in these pictures! Chris had much more hair and I weighed a lot less then .... that dress would never fit me now! As you can see, the florist went wild with my bouquet - it was supposed to be much smaller. I had asked that it look like someone walked through a spring garden and picked all sorts of flowers. So they got that part right, anyway.

Matt and Kelly were 12 and 9 years old at the time. Wow. They were little kids when we got married! All grown up now (well, that's sometimes in question...) and out of the house. And a grandchild to boot.

Us with the parents. My dad has since passed away, and our folks have definitely aged a lot in the past 11 years. My mom is 88 now, and Chris' parents are well into their 70's.

And so today, my sweet husband sent me a beautiful bouquet of red roses. Because he remembers how special that day was, and so do I. I think it's safe to say "Yes, we would do it all over again" without any hesitation!