Ten Days to Ten Years: Day 10

Okay, dear friends, In writing about our wedding day for the past nine days I’ve done my best to spare you a lot of mush, but today is our actual anniversary, and so like it or not, it’s about to get sappy around here.

Happy Anniversary, dear husband,

From the moment you first gently put your hand on the small of my back as we entered Pietro’s over ten years ago I knew that you would be the one to gently encourage and push me, to guard me, and to have my back in all situations.  The first time I was sick after we began dating and you made me take cough medicine I knew you would always take care of me, and go out of your way for my comfort.

And when I joined you for dinner at your family table and we sat chatting for hours with your parents before you and your dad got up and cleared the dishes I knew our life would be full of openness, long talks, kindness and responsibility.  On evenings when I would go on a rant and attempt to gossip or overdramatically speculate you didn’t take my bait or let me dwell on the untrue, and I knew that you would bring out the best in me and not let the worst flourish.  When you pulled out The Lord of the Rings trilogy to read aloud to me I knew our children would grow up with beautiful imaginations and a love of learning.   And as you joined me in my desire for a Sunday morning Divine Service wedding it was obvious that the foundation for our marriage would be the forgiveness of Christ who united us.

I know it’s impolite to say this, but, “I was right!”  You, and our life are all those things and more.  Thank you.  Thank you, thank you.

Jerry, I love you, thank you for loving me.  Thank you for this decade, and thank you in advance for all the decades to come.

Yours,
Christina

Okay folks, mush out.  (But I do totally dig that man.)

Ten Days to Ten Years: Day 8

When we got married I was 26 and Jerry was 38.  The odds were stacked against us.  We had just narrowly passed the Gross Factor Equation Exam.  You remember that one from College Algebra, right?  It’s something something like

2(woman’s age) – 11 ≥ (man’s age)

See, I knew that would come right back to you, after all, math is just like riding a bike down the street toward the railroad crossing at 10 miles an hours with an approaching train traveling 36 miles an hour.

So, as I was saying, the numbers appeared to be stacked against us, especially this glaring statistic:

Three times a bridesmaid, never a bride.

What? That’s not actually a real stat?  Egh, whatever, facts, folklore, they’re all the same to me, and I had the dresses to prove it:  I’d been a Maid of Honor not once, not twice, but the dreaded three times.  And with my sister’s 2001 New Year’s Eve engagement and pending 2002 New Year’s Eve wedding, I was looking at my fourth line of duty.

And I don’t know if there’s a wive’s tale that speaks to the number of roommates that one marries off before she herself is destined to a life of spinsterhood, but I was at a whopping five.

That’s why at my wedding I just had one attendant who was securely attached to a fiance.  No need to run up any one else’s tally, right?

But, all those beautiful women who did me the honor of making me their honored maid flew miles and miles, some even with teensy newborns, to celebrate my very own take-that-you-silly-old-legend wedding extravaganza.

Thank you, Misty, Angie and Stephanie for your years of standing up for me with or without the yards of silk and satin.

And here’s one that I couldn’t have guessed that hot, steamy June day – after my sister’s nuptials I wasn’t yet finished with my role in the wedding party.  Seven years later, my good friend Audrey, who at my own wedding could be seen sitting at the back left corner of the table of high school girls, got married, and there I stood, yet again witnessing the happy occasion of the joining of husband and wife.

So, who’s next?

__________________________________________________________________________________________-

 

Ten Days to Ten Years: Day 6

Did I mention that it was really, really hot that day?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Ten Days to Ten Years: Day 5

Before we had children I lived the most luxurious life.  I used to get my hair cut.  On a regular basis.  And highlighted.  At a salon.  By “My Stylist.”

Man, those were the days.

Despite the fact that our wedding was on a Sunday morning, My Stylist agreed to come do my hair and make-up in my office at church during the Sunday School hour.  She picked out the make-up, I purchased the suggested items, and then brought them along for her to apply.

She did a nice job, yes?  When she quit the salon while I was pregnant with Thomas I happened to be scheduled on her last day of work.  I cried.  It was the hormones, I’m sure.  That was about the time I gave up getting my hair cut.

Anyway, see that blush she selected?  I love that blush.  Notice how I didn’t use past-tense on that last sentence.  That’s right.  I still own it.  And not only do I still own it, I still use it pretty much every time I wear makeup, which might not be as often as it was back in the first days of our marriage.

Yep, I just snapped that picture.  It’s the same exact blush, not just the same color purchased after the first blush ran out.  Nope, that’s the original folks.  Save me your lectures about the dangers of using old make-up, I’m not really interested.  I’m hoping to stretch this cheek color out until at least our Silver Anniversary because I like the role of blushing bride.

Ten Days to Ten Years: Day 4

Happy Sunday!  We were married on a Sunday, you know.  And a Sunday morning, at that.

It was lovely.  I wouldn’t have had it any other way.  A packed church, marvelous hymns, bold singing, faithful preaching, historic liturgy, and Jesus – present there for our forgiveness as we began our lives as one in Him.

*Hugemongous Happy Sigh*

Oh.  Okay, I’m back now.  Sorry, sometimes I get lost in my happiness.

Don’t worry, I’m not so lost that I’ve forgotten that today isn’t just any ol’ Sunday.

Happy Father’s Day!

Now, we weren’t married on Father’s Day, but don’t think that’s going to stop me from showing you the important role our dads played in our nuptials.

My dad gave me a way, and he didn’t even flinch when I started belting out the processional hymn “O God, O Lord of Heaven and Earth” really loudly in his ear.

All these years we’ve bemoaned the effect the hog sheds had on his hearing, but in this instance it might have worked in my favor (Please take this moment to insert all of your “raising pigs parallels raising Christina” jokes.  I can take it.            Okay.  Are you done now?)

Jerry’s Dad pronounced us husband and wife.

It’s something not every couple can say, and it’s certainly a memory we cherish.  Plus, don’t you just think he looked adorable in his vestments? Especially the green.  I’m pretty sure it was during the Trinity season that he acquired the nickname Pastor Yoda.

The excitement of the day might have blurred my memory, but I think he probably said, “Husband and wife, now pronounce you I do.”

And of course I got a dance with my Dad.  I’ve never really known him to dance, so this was pretty awesome.

But even more awesome that all the processing, pronouncing, and dancing is the impact these two men have had on our lives for way more than just a day, or even a decade.

They, along with our mothers, brought us to the font to be washed in Baptism, reared us in homes ruled and forgiven by the daily use of God’s Word, and compelled us to receive Christ each week in the Divine Service.

They, along with our mothers, showed us daily how to serve each other in love, and have not exasperated their children, but brought us up in the training and instruction of the Lord.  They have led us both by quiet example and adamant truth.

And today we thank our Heavenly Father for the gift of our earthly ones.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Ten Days to Ten Years: Day 2

One of these things is not like the others.

It’s just good that this picture wasn’t cropped closely.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Ten Days to Ten Years: Day 1

In just 10 days Jerry and I will be celebrating our 10th anniversary.  In anticipation of this great feast, I’ll be posting a little look back at that balmy, beautiful Sunday of 2002.  It seems like just yesterday, and yet, when we look back at the pictures it becomes apparent that a decade has taken it’s toll, on at least some of us.

Look at these girls, for instance.  You’d hardly recognize them today.  One is married and expecting her first child, three are in college, one works in Japan, one just graduated high school, and the littlest among them will be a senior next year.  The years have treated them well.

We were just over at these girls’ house last Sunday . . .

for a graduation open house.  Wow.  The the middlest just graduated from Jerry’s 8th grade class.  The youngest?  Well, last time I checked she wasn’t wearing that adorable watermelon top.  But she’s pretty cute, she could probably still pull it off.

And then there is this gorgeous family.  It goes without saying that ten years hasn’t aged the parents one bit.

But those boys, woah.  They’re all grown up, succeeding in college and high school, throwing no hitters and over-achieving.

There were a lot of children at our wedding.  Jerry is a teacher, I was teaching music to the entire school at the time.  This just wasn’t a wedding, this was the wedding of Miss Vogelsang and Mr. Roberts.  Mega Big Deal.   His class, especially the seventh graders were super involved in the planning.  These three preteen beauties . . .

now sucessful, beautiful adults, helped my pick out my wedding dress. (Okay, one of you was just there in spirit.)

The seventh grade boys played their part, too.  They accompanied us on multiple viewings of Lord of the Rings, quite a romantic way to begin a relationship.

I’m not sure the years have changed these two much.  Once a seventh grade boy, always a seventh grade boy.

______________________________________________________________________________________________