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Sunday 4 August 2013

Not for the squishy of heart (2)

Here I am, on the morning of our 34th wedding anniversary, still coffeeless because I couldn't wait to go back and read a post I'd first put up in about 2005.  It still feels exactly the same and I so cherish the day we may or may not get to celebrate together.  But that's another story.


We woke up early that morning because we had to get the fruit and berries ready for the sangria.  It was going to be a fine day and a wonderful party!

At noon, with all the preparations behind us, and dressed to the nines, Chris and Sarah, Dave and I walked out the side door into my folks’ garden, to get married.  Because I never knew the lyrics to anything, the “processional” music was Cat Stevens’ Morning Has Broken, and justified or not, I’m blaming that music for the fact that I cried from the minute we opened the door and I realized this was not just a party until well after we’d signed the register.


Most of our immediate and extended family and many of our friends were there, which was wonderful and heartwarming, and I love that in that flowery and verdant  garden, which was my mother’s joy, we were all various versions of young, strong and beautiful.  There was a beribbonned swing way in the back of the yard, we had croquet and horseshoes and stilts, music and food, a beautiful homemade cake covered in fresh flowers and we had successfully concocted a very potent version of sangria that we still make for special occasions; we had given the kids ID bracelets with their new initials, my brother Pat took lots of pictures, which I can still see in my head, but which, except for a few, are lost now—still in the beigey-rose album we used to look at in the dead of winter, but which disappeared when we made the move from our big house.

I can remember being humbled by the strength of my emotions, delighted at the solemn way the kids were involved and dizzy, dizzy with love.


Outwardly, we’ve seldom made a big deal of our wedding anniversary.  In fact, we joke about how many of them were spent apart, but every year, in my heart and in my increasingly doddering mind, I celebrate it again and congratulate us on the brilliant decision we made that year to have a party at which we’d get married.



8 comments:

  1. Happy Anniversary!!! :)

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  2. It's great to see a couple living "happily ever after" together, all these years later. Thanks for the inspiration, Lorna!

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  3. Happy Anniversary to you, Lorna and Dave! Sorry, to be a day late. Hope you had a special time all to yourselves.
    Love, Evelyn

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  4. Happy Anniversary. You two were made for each other.

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  5. Congrats! Sounds like you had a wonderful party. : )

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  6. What a great post. Lovely love story.

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  7. Aw ... that's a terrific post, Lorna.

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  8. What can I possibly say about only reading this 79 days after our anniversary except that I am so glad you are still giddy in love and not clear-headed about our relationship, for that would make it a much different story. Aren't I the lucky one? Your equally giddy, and most fortunate, other half.

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