Baggage Claim

How our bags ever made it to us I shall never, ever know. The Bahamas were everything that I expected. The dinners were so good, our talks about our futures was even better. Do you remember the napkin. I think you still have that somewhere. That’ll be fun to look at years from now and see if we’ve been able to do and not do the things that we talked about while eating some lobster bisque. One of the things that I loved the most about that trip was your willingness to eventually overcome your fear and take a dive (literally) into something that you knew I really wanted to try. Talk about give and take…I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what you take in return for going scuba diving with sharks. Our journey to the natural preserve and almost-abandoned beach while hoping that we’d not run out of gas on the scooter was pretty fantastic. I wonder what people thought when they say about 20 “Thank you ____” scribbled all over the sand.

Mercury Hall has never had a party like this!

Sure the DJ almost forced me to strangle her and Whitney was nowhere to be found but in the end – Magical! If I start really writing about what this night meant to me I think that I’d still be writing a year later. I wished it could have lasted another 12 hours so that I could have seen more people, eaten some food and danced just one more song with my wife. You were so beautiful that night. Your smile lit up the room even brighter than it usually does. We capped off the night with what turned out to be a rather interesting late night “I want some PIZZA”-run but at the end of the night, we were married and we’d spend our first night together knowing that the commitment we just made would last us a lifetime.

We’re really going to do this - Wedding Day!

After years of dating and so many unbelievable dates (some of which are in this blog) I had zero doubts about the decision we had made. What I didn’t realize was just how much deeper our love and our relationship would get after we made it official. The balance that we’ve been able to strike in our lives, our friends, our jobs isn’t perfect but we are well on our way. All of those things combined have, in my opinion, put us in a position where each day we grow closer because of our ability to learn from the other person, live through the ups and downs and also look to the future and be so excited about what it holds.

Setup Time

One day I’ll look back and really realize that I was in WAY over my head when trying to take on all the things that we did for the wedding. I wouldn’t change it for the world (well, ok, maybe that’s a little lie). What was really hard was not seeing you that day. I know you stressed that you didn’t want to and in the end I’m really glad that I didn’t. It made seeing you come around the corner with your dad an image that thankfully will stay with until my last breath. Back to the setup. Where would we be without our friends? If there was a contest with the luckiest person(s) alive, we’d have to be up there. I feel blessed to have had so many people help us on the day of our wedding that I can’t even imagine ways that I could ever repay them. There is no way that everything would have been pulled off without them.

Who wants to the worst and best BBQ sauce ever?

Me! Salt Lick’s bbq sauce has managed to baffle even the FDA. No matter, we thought it would be the best place to host our rehersal dinner. That and it was within our budget. Having you and our friends and family together before our wedding was so incredibly special for me. So special in fact that I decided to talk for what must have been over an hour about everyone in the room that had such a big impact on my life and in getting me to a point where I was who I am today. Also, hearing your friends and family talk about you and share stories was super touching. This would turn out to be our last night as singles…I couldn’t think of a better way to have spent it.

Where the !@#@#% am I going?

Ok, here’s another time where you weren’t with me but you were still sly and involved by keeping one of the best secrets from me. I had some thoughts but everything was really up in the air. I won’t ramble about this trip as I do believe there needs to be an element of mystery that remains about all bachelor parties. To everyone involved, WOW, it will be something I remember forever.