First Anniversary: Married One Year

It's been a long year but now I can say that I have been married to the woman I love for one whole year. We're leaving for Myrtle Beach, SC, where we plan to eat at Planet Hollywood tomorrow night (technically, a day late, but the honeymoon was "late" too) and... Well we have no other plans, but we'll find something, I'm sure.

I'm a little inspired by the pro wrestling world, where they have a theme for every event. The theme for our wedding and relationship was Nickelback's "Far Away" which we interpreted to being a whole country apart, coming together and staying together. The theme for our first anniversary is Rascal Flatt's "Bless the Broken Road" which is about, as I've said before, how each of our previous mistakes and relationships, such as they were, led us to where we are now. When one is happy, one must look upon past negative experiences as positive, because if they didn't happen, one might not be the person one is today - and might not be as happy now.

In late June of 2004, my aunt got married in our (my mom's) backyard. They are not still together, but my stepmother wrote a poem of sorts for the then-happy couple. On my own first anniversary, I quote it here.

Some may quote superstition that such a poem written for a marriage which did not last might taint or curse another couple who adopt it, but I am no more prone to superstition than I am to religion. I take responsibility for my actions; if anything goes wrong in my marriage, it won't be because of bad luck, necessarily.

I am not sure I have the entire poem. Mary read it aloud, and I was recording with my digital camera. I don't have a hard copy of the poem. Nonetheless, here is what I have:

Marriage is taking the good with the bad
It's doing something you may not want to do
It's doing everything because you want to
Marriage is sharing all that you have with the one that you love
It's waking up each morning knowing you have someone to count on,
to love, and to spend the rest of your life with.

_____ and _____, we wish you the best
We pray for you both
That you have long life, good health, and true happiness
_____, we welcome you to our family.

One word of wisdom: Love
Love each other; when you are mad, remember love
When you don't get your way... Love
When times are hard, remember the love
Life goes by so fast, and when we're all at the end of the trail
Love is what you should remember
I love you both, congratulations _____ and _____.

Of course, I've blanked out the names. It wasn't written for us and I didn't want to just insert our names into it because it would be convenient.

Couple of notes: At the end of the "Marriage is..." paragraph, the groom tossed in "And knowing I have someone to cook for me!". After the "When times are hard" line, someone shouts "Money!" and the groom fires back with "Insurance policy!". It's a funny video overall, but the message is there and I feel that it applies to us in most ways.

Thanks again Mary. Much love and respect.

And, with this blog, we leave for our first anniversary celebration in South Carolina. Our phones will be on - if we'd want you to call, you probably have our numbers or can get them from someone you know. (If you only have one, you add one to the last digit of mine to call Jen's, or subtract one from the last digit of Jen's to call me.) And even if you do call, it's no guarantee we'll answer, depending on what's going on - but leave a message, we will return calls at the very least. The blog won't be updated, of course, either.

Ta ta for now...