Our Day

This morning Tom greeted me with, “Good morning, happy anniversary.”

I’d known it was coming up. Last weekend, I knew that Tuesday was our anniversary, but…this morning, as I was getting the girls dressed and showering and just going about the morning routine, it didn’t occur to me what day it was.

Had he not said something, I’d have gone on to work and realized at some later point what was important about this day.

I would have emailed him, wishing him a happy day.

We’re not big on gifts for days like this. You could say we’re more about living each day like it’s special rather than just one day out of the year. But…well, really we’re just both lazy and cheap and we don’t want to spend money on something that would probably sit around and collect dust.

Our wedding day was another of those events where family was the most important thing. My entire family pitched in. My cousin Spencer played the piano (he was 13 years old), my brother manned the cd player. My mom and aunts did all the kitchen work. Tom’s sons were up there by his side and his daughter stood with me. My dear friend Julie and her sweet Riley were up there too. Everyone there managed to make this day one of the best of my life. I was so relaxed and had so much fun. Every bride’s wedding day should be like that.

Tom likes to sing a silly little diddy that goes something like this, “Mommy and daddy got married. Because mommy has too many aunts.” Sometimes, he’s sweet and switches it up with Mommy and daddy got married because mommy and daddy are in love. But it’s usually the one about too many aunts.

I always laugh because, well, I do have an awful lot of aunts. And they’re almost all pushy.

But that’s what’s great about family. You deal with the pushy ones because you love them. Pushiness and all. It think it was their very pushiness, their bossiness that made our day so special. They pushed and they bossed and they made it perfect. For us. And that’s what every wedding should be, perfect for the couple standing up there before God and friends and family, vowing to stand by each other even when things are tough.

Tom’s hard work this past weekend cemented his place with my extended family. Not only did he work alongside my cousin who suffered a closed head wound fifteen years ago (which had made him very hard to work with) Tom did this with a smile on his face and a laugh in his voice. He let my aunts know that he’s as hard-working as they are, he’s as willing to get down and dirty to get the job done.

And in the end, over the years, he’s made me glad that eight years ago, I made that long walk down the aisle to him.