To Have and To Hold

Eight years ago today, I married my best friend. It sounds a little cliche ... but, it's true.

On a day like today, my mind is gushing with memories of that special day. I'd like to share a few highlights that I hold very near and dear to my heart.

You see, we're spur of the moment people. We decided to get married approximately one week before our actual wedding day. It has taken me longer to plan a trip to Wal-Mart than it took me to plan one of the most important days of my life. But, that's how we roll. We knew for a long time that marriage was in our future ... but we had never actually planned anything.

Our pre-wedding conversation went kind of like this ...

Alison - "Wanna get married next week?"
Tom - "Sure."
Alison - "You busy Sunday?"
Tom - "Nope."
Alison - "Cool."
Tom - "Yep."

Sunday, September 22nd 2002 - Our Wedding Day.

I woke up that morning in a bit of a Malibu Rum induced fog. But, I had a busy day ahead of me. I was getting married. I took a couple of aspirin and decided that it was time for me to get my booty in gear. I had a to-do list that was a mile and a half long. My list included things like decorate the church, press and deliver our daughter's dress, take a shower, get my hair done, slap on a coat of make-up and re-do my homemade pedicure from the night before (painting my toenails after cocktails wasn't the best idea that I've ever had. Not only did I have painted toenails ... I also had painted heels and ankles. I'm not really sure what happened there). Luckily, I had a huge posse of helpers working with me or I probably would not have been able to pull it all off.

6:52 pm -
8 minutes to go.

My Maid of Honor (Jennifer), Tom's Best Man (Danny), my Dad and I stood in our holding room waiting for my Grandma to come get us for our center aisle debut. A couple minutes later, she entered as planned. Most weddings are a little behind schedule. But, not mine and my Grandma made sure of it. She quickly hustled Jen and Danny out of the room and to the doorway of the sanctuary.

It was almost my cue. I stood in front of the full length mirror and gave myself a quick pep talk. I'm not good at public speaking. I get tongue tied and turn a pretty shade of pink. As I looked at my reflection in the mirror, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Jennifer's bouquet. Oh nooooo! She forgot her flowers. I grabbed the front half of my dress and galloped (I was young ... my high heel wearing days had just begun. It was a pretty unique display of uncoordination on my part) towards the aisle with the fresh cut calla lilies dripping in my wind. I was yelling (in a whisper) for Jen to come back.  Jen was already half way down the aisle with Danny on her arm. She heard me yelling (in a whisper) and ditched Danny to come and retrieve her sopping wet flowers. The water surely would've ruined her burgundy gown. So, I gave the room a swift once over and noticed that a diaper bag was sitting nearby. What's more absorbent than a diaper? Nothing. Duh. I swabbed the long dripping stems with a powder fresh pamper and sent Jen back on her way. She rejoined an obviously uncomfortable Danny and they continued down the aisle to their designated spots at the front of the church.

I took a deep breath and caught my Grandma's eye. She gave me a nod and took her seat next to my Grandad. My Dad and I took our places in the doorway. Everyone stood and "Here Comes the Bride" began playing on the organ. Gulp. This was it. My last few minutes of being a single gal were about to come to an end. And off we went.

We got to the alter and the minister said a few words. It was then time for my Dad to give me away. (For the record, I don't really like that phrase. I kind of hurts my feelings a little bit. I don't want my parents to "give me away" ... just let Tom marry me.) My Dad kissed me on the cheek and started to walk behind me to take his seat beside my Mom. Instead he tripped over my train and used my veil to catch his balance. This flipped my neck into an awkward backwards position causing me to have a teeny bit of whiplash.  The crowd gasped. I know that my Dad felt horrible about it (not to worry Dad ... you gave me good blogging material.) I assured our guests that I was okay with a painful smile. I then gave my veil a toss into the congregation and the ceremony continued. Aside from a weepy Maid of Honor and a few mispronounced vows, the rest of the ceremony went off without a hitch (well, except for the actual hitching of the bride and groom). After the "I do's" we floated back down the aisle as husband and wife.

We took a few pictures and then headed to our short (but sweet) reception. As we danced to "our song" (not really, we danced to whichever slow song was playing when my Mom ordered us to dance), Tom felt a tug on his ankle. It was baby Aubree. She wanted to dance with us (or so we thought). He picked her up and we danced together as a happy little family. This lasted for a grand total of 2.6 seconds. That's when our beautiful daughter turned into Chucky (you know, the evil little red headed baby doll in the horror movies) and started slapping and punching both of us in the face. We put her down to cease the beatings. She then began rolling around on the floor and kicking us in the shins. The abuse continued until my Mom came to our rescue. She scooped an angry little Aubree up off of the floor and let us finish our dance.  Throbbing shins and a near bloody nose made it quite difficult to finish busting a move. But, we smiled and we danced anyway.

We did the rest of the normal wedding reception things. A few toasts were made and we cut the cake. Our friends were outside "decorating" our car in the pouring down rain. Did I mention that part? There was a hurricane going on outside (not Hurricane Katrina or anything ... just a super heavy, ground soaking, flash flood creating down pour). I didn't realize that I still had my garter and my bouquet until several guests had already left the party. So, I decided to toss my husband the garter (I'm pretty sure that he still has it and keeps it in his tool box) and I tossed my brother's girlfriend (now his wife, their 5th wedding anniversary is in 3 days) my bouquet. I grabbed my new husband and we skipped away together ... hand in hand ... into the rain.

And that is what memories are made of. It was an amazing night and I wouldn't change any of it. Happy Anniversary, Honey! I love you and the beautiful family that we've created together. Here's to you and to many more years of wedded bliss.