Ten Years

I've been married for ten years today! That doesn't even seem possible! Some days it seems as though I've know Justin all my life and other days it seems like it was just yesterday that our courtship began.

The day of the wedding I got up early to go get my hair done. The three bridesmaids, my sister, a cousin, and a friend were asleep in my sister's room that morning. I passed on the Dixie Cream donuts sitting on the counter that morning as I walked out the door. I returned awhile later with my hair up, curled, and held in place by what must have been a half a bottle of hairspray.

We went to the church I grew up in (and where my parents and several of my aunts and uncles had been married), where I dressed in the gown and veil that my mother made for me. We took our pictures before the ceremony so we would be able to visit with our guests after the wedding. Justin and one of the groomsmen were late getting in because there had been a problem with one of the tuxes, but we were still finished in plenty of time for me to eat a half a turkey sandwich.

The bridesmaids made their way down the aisle without incident, but our flower girl, one of my cousins' daughters, stopped partway down the aisle at her aunt's pew and asked, "Why do I gots to do this?" She did eventually go on and I made my way down the aisle to my soon to be husband.

We exchanged our vows, lit the unity candle, and were pronounced husband and wife. We made our way out of the church and down to the fellowship hall where we planned to greet our guests, but no one came. We waited and waited, but we were still alone. We started back to the sanctuary and met the rest of the bridal party and found the source of the delay. Our flower girl decided she didn't have enough petals to make it back up the aisle, so she wasn't going to leave. My sister finally convinced her to go so everyone could leave!

We chatted with our friends and family and cut the cake. We went outside to get a few pictures in the prayer garden and when we returned many people had already left--perhaps we should have waited to cut the cake!

We left in my sister's car (mine was hidden so we wouldn't have to clean it before we left) amid a shower of rice. It wasn't until we were halfway to Cuimberland Falls that I realized the only thing I had to eat was the bite of cake that Justin had shoved in my mouth.

Happy tenth anniversary Justin!