Our Wedding.......16 Years Later

It's our 16th Wedding Anniversary Today......

Sixteen years........sometimes feels like a lifetime......other times, like yesterday.  As I type this, he's laying on the couch snoring.....one dog on the top of the couch above him...the other laying on the floor beside him and the cat at his feet......and I'm feeling very blessed right now.

I can still remember every minute detail of our wedding day.  We were married in the amazing garden-setting backyard of our home in Dallas on a beautiful Sunday evening.  The day started off with friends hoisting furniture out of the living room, balancing past the pool and into the garage......My brother and my then 12 year old nephew, Lance (who is now an officer in the Marines), wiring the sound system and my Mom, who was my Maid of Honor, and I getting our hair done by my sweet friend Frosty.  My sister was in charge of everything, including our wedding coordinator that we affectionately named Elvira, as she looked like a funeral director with her jet black hair, super white skin and scary attitude.

Mom was complaining cause her feet were killing her in the shoes she had picked out.....yet she looked amazing.  She painfully talked about those shoes for the next 14 years.  Our dog, Kiki, was our ring bearer and half way down the aisle, decided to make a RUN for it with our rings tied around his neck....so the bride (ME) had to go retrieve him and the rings.  I remember thinking the pianist must have forgotten how to end the last song, "The Lord's Prayer" as I think it went on for 15 minutes and Chuck was starting to weave.  Chuck's Dad (now deceased) gave the opening prayer and my Dad gave the closing prayer.  My Mom (now deceased) stood next to me and Chuck's son, Troy, stood next to him. 

Our wedding vows included me promising "to always put Chuck's garage tools away when I used them" and Chuck promising "to do all the cooking".  The moment we said "I do", a blue bird in the nearby tree starting singing at the top of its lungs and a breeze threatened to blow my veil from my head.  That very moment.....it was magical.....it was right.

And then everyone clapped.

A helicopter then scooped down low over our house and I remember thinking, "Wow, Charlie arranged for a helicopter to take us away...." but I think it was just a police helicopter looking for criminals........after all, we did live in Dallas.

Blessed........awwwww........so very blessed.

A lot has happened in the last 16 years.......good and bad.....funny and sad,  and I'm so grateful for every minute God has given us over that time.

And God-willing, we'll have 16 more.