13 years of matrimonial bliss, well, mostly

DH and I celebrated thirteen years of marriage on Monday, a fact that I nearly forgot this year...remembered on Sunday that the next day was our anniversary. DH had forgotten too. At least we both forgot, usually it's stereotypically DH that forgets even though I remind him several times well in advance of an important BDay or something.

We were married at the tender age of 20 and 21, still in college, living in a tiny two-room-and-a-bath apartment right next to the train tracks, our furniture was a joke, and we were happy as clams.

We were married at The Mansion at Elfindale and honeymooned at The Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a town we loved so much we kept going back for Valentine's Days and Anniversaries.

You know, I just realized Eureka Springs is one of the things I really miss. It's a crazy mix of the remnants of a Victorian health resort, tourist trap, fantastically talented artists and jewelers, New Age mumbo jumbo, and European style architectural charm. Souvenier shops with country victorian doo dads crammed next to amazing art galleries crammed next to weird new age stores. My favorite What-The-#$%% moment was stumbling into a Lesbian New Age Head Shop. That was a trip.

The wedding ceremony was kinda cool, I wrote our vows, threw in the 1 Corinthian 13 chapter, and had Elizabeth Barret Browning's "How Do I Love Thee" read by our attendants. The trombone player from the now defunct River Rats Dixieland Jazz Band officiated (a friend and collegue of my stepfather), and my in laws didn't mingle and hardly said two words to me. They didn't want us married up. I'm not sorry to have dissapointed them that the marriage actually does work and that they were wrong. I can't help but gloat a little there, yes, I'm that petty.

I made the wedding invitations myself, my mother made my wedding dress and my bridesmaid's dress (yup, I picked an ugly BM dress, sorry, Allie), I made all the flower arrangements that we wore, including a headband of cream silk roses in my hair. Sigh.

One of the happiest days of my life, second only to the day I birthed my DD.