Shelter from the Storm
My five-year anniversary is this Friday. It's fitting that it corresponds with Thanksgiving because 1. we planned it that way and 2. I'm so incredibly thankful for Kevin.
To paraphrase and slightly change an old saying, a happy marriage really is an earlier heaven. Of course, I don't believe in heaven so I'd better get it right now, and I did.
Kevin and I first went out around Easter in 1999. I cooked him dinner--chicken breasts with provolone simmered in a garlic-heavy tomato sauce. We went camping on our first date. We were linked by our position as DJs on the public radio station in Moab--the best one in the country, really--KZMU. By summer, we were all about each other. We got engaged in October, in a very typical manner for us--unceremoniously as we relaxed in bed. We agreed to be married Thanksgiving of 2000 but, after a week or so of thinking about it, decided to go for it (why wait?) and get married in 6 weeks. It just made sense, and neither of us were excited about having over a year to plan a wedding.
As it turned out, 6 weeks and less than $2,000 was all we needed to pull off a wedding weekend that included decorating a really cool little town hall that used to be the Stuntman Hall of Fame, serving Thanksgiving dinner for about 30 of our nearest and dearest, and getting hitched in a heartfelt ceremony encircled by family and community. There was no obnoxious DJ, no obnoxious dancing--just lots of beer and wine, really good food, and really good companionship.
Of course, I was pretty tired by the end of the night, and wasn't hungry for a lot of the food, because--funny thing!--I was pregnant. Three days before our wedding I took a pregnancy test at the urging of the ob-gyn nurse and lo-and-behold! Our family was thrilled. Kevin's parents thought that he would never get married, and Kevin's sister had been married for about 10 years but the only egg that got fertilized was the nesting variety. His parents were pushing 60 and had a cozy retirement on the near horizon but had no grandchildren. My mom was always up for another grandbaby to add to her growing collection, and it was my turn to contribute.
The short courtship and darn-near immediate parenthood would spell doom for some couples, but it was, and has been, more than fine for us. Five years into it, our marriage is second-nature. It's not outwardly exciting or overly romantic, but that crap doesn't matter much. Inwardly, it's a thrill. To find a lifelong companion that you truly enjoy, love, respect, trust, think is totally cool and hot, is a kind of miracle. The prospect of really knowing someone and watching them over a lifetime, of shaping and being shaped by them, is just awesome. And raising kids with someone that you think is a great parent--and watching those kids throughout the course of their lives--is really, REALLY fun.
Even when I was a fun-lovin' twenty-something, I always hoped that I would find the right guy, get married, have kids, and have a home. Well, amazingly, I'm there. And it's great.
There are dozens of songs that remind me of Kevin and only Kevin, but this one is THE one--if only I had written it myself (but thanks, John Lennon). And thank you, Kevin, for being my refuge.
In My Life
There are places I’ll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I’ve loved them all
But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I’ll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
Though I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I’ll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
In my life I love you more
To paraphrase and slightly change an old saying, a happy marriage really is an earlier heaven. Of course, I don't believe in heaven so I'd better get it right now, and I did.
Kevin and I first went out around Easter in 1999. I cooked him dinner--chicken breasts with provolone simmered in a garlic-heavy tomato sauce. We went camping on our first date. We were linked by our position as DJs on the public radio station in Moab--the best one in the country, really--KZMU. By summer, we were all about each other. We got engaged in October, in a very typical manner for us--unceremoniously as we relaxed in bed. We agreed to be married Thanksgiving of 2000 but, after a week or so of thinking about it, decided to go for it (why wait?) and get married in 6 weeks. It just made sense, and neither of us were excited about having over a year to plan a wedding.
As it turned out, 6 weeks and less than $2,000 was all we needed to pull off a wedding weekend that included decorating a really cool little town hall that used to be the Stuntman Hall of Fame, serving Thanksgiving dinner for about 30 of our nearest and dearest, and getting hitched in a heartfelt ceremony encircled by family and community. There was no obnoxious DJ, no obnoxious dancing--just lots of beer and wine, really good food, and really good companionship.
Of course, I was pretty tired by the end of the night, and wasn't hungry for a lot of the food, because--funny thing!--I was pregnant. Three days before our wedding I took a pregnancy test at the urging of the ob-gyn nurse and lo-and-behold! Our family was thrilled. Kevin's parents thought that he would never get married, and Kevin's sister had been married for about 10 years but the only egg that got fertilized was the nesting variety. His parents were pushing 60 and had a cozy retirement on the near horizon but had no grandchildren. My mom was always up for another grandbaby to add to her growing collection, and it was my turn to contribute.
The short courtship and darn-near immediate parenthood would spell doom for some couples, but it was, and has been, more than fine for us. Five years into it, our marriage is second-nature. It's not outwardly exciting or overly romantic, but that crap doesn't matter much. Inwardly, it's a thrill. To find a lifelong companion that you truly enjoy, love, respect, trust, think is totally cool and hot, is a kind of miracle. The prospect of really knowing someone and watching them over a lifetime, of shaping and being shaped by them, is just awesome. And raising kids with someone that you think is a great parent--and watching those kids throughout the course of their lives--is really, REALLY fun.
Even when I was a fun-lovin' twenty-something, I always hoped that I would find the right guy, get married, have kids, and have a home. Well, amazingly, I'm there. And it's great.
There are dozens of songs that remind me of Kevin and only Kevin, but this one is THE one--if only I had written it myself (but thanks, John Lennon). And thank you, Kevin, for being my refuge.
In My Life
There are places I’ll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I’ve loved them all
But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I’ll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
Though I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I’ll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
In my life I love you more
posted by lulu | 7:30 AM
1 Comments:
So very nice. I am glad that you are happy and it shows.
But, to insert my customary quippy remark, couldn't there have been all kinds of untapped comic potential to being married in a former Stuntman Hall of Fame?
Think of what even a decent sitcom could pull off:
--having the minister (or whomever) come out while blazing. The groom has to put him/her out.
--instead of stepping over the broom/breaking the wine glass, kissing, the newly married couple bungees out of the ceremony.
--instead of having someone "object now or forever hold your peace" have them run up and hit you over the head with a breakaway chair.
Comedy GOLD!! (And once again, Lulu, you are lucky in all things. We just got married in a BORING, traditional ceremony. Sure it was blessed by God and all, but it didn't involve stuntmen. . . . Sigh.)
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