Happy Anniversary To Us!

Today is Tony and my 7th wedding anniversary. 7 years...wow...now I know why I was feeling so itchy all day!!

Tony and I dated a loooonnnnggg time before we got married. I mean, honestly, I thought the man would never ask me to marry him! Truth be told it was me that dragged my heels. See, I had been there...and done that...and the story didn't end "and they lived happily ever after". I was gun shy and perfectly happy to date Tony for the rest of my life. Tony saw things a little differently. From the very beginning when Tony and I were dating he would say things like, "When we're married....". I would just look at him like he was crazy and let it go.

Then, during our annual family vacation to the Outer Banks, in 1999, Tony and I were walking along the beach one evening when he "found" a seashell that just so happened to have a beautiful engagement ring in it. I was shocked. We hadn't talked about the whole "marriage thing" in quite some time and I thought he had just decided to stick with the status quo. Obviously, I said "yes"...and here we are...celebrating our 7th anniversary!

The night Tony asked me to marry him was wonderful. Not only were the proposal and the setting perfect but when we went back to the house and shared the news with my family they couldn't have been happier. At that time our oldest nieces were 7 and 8. They were so excited that Uncle Tony found a seashell that had a ring in it that actually fit me! How could that be?? They just couldn't believe it and spent the rest of our vacation carefully inspecting each seashell they found! After everyone got over the initial shock our nieces went off into one of the bedrooms to compose a celebratory cheer/dance. I don't remember all the words but the main part went something like, "Aunt TT (it's not a typo...my kids call me Aunt TT not TJ), Uncle Tony we're so happy you're getting married because now you'll be the real Uncle Tony." It was absolutely priceless!

When we first were discussing our wedding plans we thought we'd go off some place quiet and get married. My brother-in-law, Ed, said that was fine as long as he could come, too. He wasn't the only one that felt that way so we decided to have a *very* small local wedding instead.

For our wedding party we asked "our kids"...8 of our 9 nieces and nephews. Christina, our youngest niece, wasn't quite a year old then and was a little too young to have an official role. I can remember us talking to Gretchen, the minister who married us, about having the kids as our bridal party. She sort of sighed and strongly cautioned us about what a disaster that would be. How wrong she was! Ryan and Jamie were our Best Men, Sadie and Katie were Maids of Honor, Jason and Michael were Ushers, Maggie was the Flower Girl, and Charlie was the Ring Bearer. It went off without a hitch! Okay, I'm conveniently forgetting that is was 101 degrees at 6:00 pm in an unairconditioned church...but really...other than the sauna-like conditions it was perfect!

We had rented a horse and carriage to take us from the church to the restaurant where we were having dinner. Since the boys were teenagers I wasn't sure if they would be too cool to ride in the carriage, but I rented one big enough for all of us just in case. After the service we left the church just as the Clydesdales were coming around the side of the church pulling the carriage. The boys' eyes got wide as saucers. My nephew, Ryan, asked me if they could ride in the carriage, too. Of course I said, "Yes!". Then all the "big" boys gave each other high-fives and climbed in that carriage faster than you can imagine. We rode in the carriage through town and the kids could have taught the Queen of England how to wave to a crowd of onlookers!


Tonight the 3 of us went to dinner at a little Irish restaurant to celebrate (we decided to forgo the fancy white tablecloth restaurants for now). 7 years ago after dinner we headed off for a 10 day honeymoon in St. Lucia. Tonight after dinner we headed home and Tony gave Lily a tubby and I vacuumed the steps. What a difference 7 years makes! But you know....I wouldn't want it any other way!

Tony, thank you for being patient...thank you for asking me to marry you more than once....thank you for a wonderful 7 years! I love you!!!