Happy Anniversary Honey!

Exactly 6 years ago (Saturday, September 4) at 5 o'clock in the evening, my daddy walked me down the aisle to this wonderful man as he stood waiting for me. It was a special wedding for many reasons. It was the second wedding for us both. It was a pretty large, church wedding, with me in a ballgown dress with a train, with many, many guests for a second wedding. It was also special because it was my daddy and mom's 39th wedding anniversary as well. It was special because I wrote the entire wedding ceremony. It was traditional but original...sounds like an oxymoron, but it is true. I went through many wedding services to pick out the aspects I liked and wrote the ceremony. The vows, the songs, the blessings, etc. Our only attendants was my brother at "man of honor" and daughter as "maid of honor", his daughter as "best girl" and his brother as "best man". My niece, the doodlebug was the flower girl and ring bearer...very cool and she did the absolutely best job. My brother's wife was the reader and my honey's friend was the usher, with my brother and his brother assisting during that part. The ceremony was special (and for all my preppy readers it was pink and green or rather blush blossom and mellow moss) and as in Steel Magnolias, the reception was too. I won't go into the details, but it was wonderful for us, and according to everyone there, it was wonderful for them. Even one of the staff at our reception said it was the best reception she had ever worked.

Here we are dancing our very first dance, not only as husband and wife, but EVER.

and after 9 long years of being single, we danced to this:

Now our wedding and reception were wonderful, but a wedding and reception don't make a marriage. A marriage is up and it is down. No marriage is ever perfect, because there are no perfect people on earth, and to be honest, ours has been far from it. First, we immediatly became a blended family with my daughter being 12 and his daughter being 11. Can you even imagine??? And then I got sick. Only 4 months after we got married, I got sick. Right away that "in sickness and in health" part came into play. I ended up with my last day working being Dec 27 of that same year. Many doctors, and tests and being a pin cushion, we received the 1st of several diagnosis. I am now on lifetime disability. We had planned for a 2 income family...his to support us, mine for other things like fixing up our house, and vacations and family fun. We seem to aggravate each other quite a bit. And after thinking we had that blended family thing down, our daughter's are gone and we are now "empty nesters". Thought things would be great like this. But we gots some workin' to do!!

Even after 6 years, we still get on each other's nerves. We each do things that seem to tick each other off. However, I would not change marrying this man for a minute.  For every time he ticks me off, he does something that melts my heart. He is a great provider, a hard worker, a very loving man. A once divorced father who outshines all like him. So many children of divorces would be lucky to have him. For that matter, I am lucky to have him. He does have times when he isn't handling my illness well, but then times when I could not wish for a safer port in the storm. He is very giving, not materially (no, I don't get the abundance of roses or jewelry that I would love to recieve) but I get little notes left for me and cards that I know he has taken his precious time to find just the right one, and then adds to it. They may not smell like roses or flowers, and they sure don't sparkle like jewelry, but the do last a lifetime, and I keep each and everyone in a special box. I don't think he even knows that. I hope to share those with our grandchildren one day so they can enjoy hearing a wonderful love story.

Honey, as I said on this day 6 years ago, I promise to work hard at our marriage and keep it and us my first priority. I promise not to be so gosh darn aggravating. I promise to try my best to make it easier to love me, because I know it isn't always. And I promise to show you even more love and appreciation. You are an amazing man and I am so blessed God put us together and we commited before Him and our families and friends on this day, 6 years ago.

I love you the mostest!! Now, will you please wear Lilly!?!?!?!

(P.S. Happy 45th Anniversary Mom & Daddy!)