Our First Wedding Anniversary

My bouquet.

A year ago today, we got married. We had already been together for six years, so we are now on our seventh year together! When did that happen? It seems like only yesterday that I went on a few dates with him and decided that we should just be friends...                

The back of my dress.

Yes, there was a broom at our wedding!

  

Our candy buffet!

After disappearing off the face of the earth, I ran into him on campus and made sure he realized that I had meant it when I said that we should be friends. We started having long, great telephone calls, he shaved his full “mountain man” beard, and showed me what an intelligent man he is. We were paired together to collect some research data early one Saturday morning and we met up at International House Of Pancakes first. After we were done with our task, we wanted to spend some more time together. We went off-roading; my first time. Then he let me drive his Jeep; I was flattered that I was the only person besides his sister allowed to drive it. We were hungry, so we had a late lunch at Bison Witches. During conversation we talked about The Sopranos and how I had only seen a few episodes. He had the entire boxed set on DVD, so we decided that it might be fun to watch a few “from the beginning.” And it was our beginning! I didn’t leave his house until 10:00 p.m. I was pretty satisfied with myself because I had found an “innocent” way to spend time with him as friends, by watching the television show. However, we went from friends to dating pretty quickly after that day. I didn't get tired of his companionship that day, and I have never gotten tired of him or his presence in the last seven years (maybe a little annoyed at times :)

We spent the year before our wedding avoiding the planning, then rushing to get it all done. He now tries to avoid doing any kind of editing on the computer with me because of how stressful it was for us to design and print our own invitations. I tried very hard to have as low-key a wedding as I could with minimal drama. Of course there still was some, but other people handled a lot of it for me. I am so grateful for my friends and family who helped us prepare for the big day. It went off as smoothly as I think it could have. We had an amazing day and have wonderful memories of dancing together and with friends. Our photographer worked with us and took great photos.

This sign got us many honks and "thumbs up" on our road trip.

The last year has been about change for us. Which is so hard. My hubby went away for the summer to work, and we left two days after our wedding. We were so sad as we packed- it felt like we were leaving each other that very day. We drove across the United States in five days! I got a stomach virus the day we left and puked my brains out for the first two days. I couldn’t even drink water. We had vehicle trouble, but made it through. We stopped in Buffalo and met some of his family. He hadn’t been there since he was one years old! 

Camping after our wedding.

We saw Niagara Falls briefly (like 30 minutes!) and had to leave to keep on schedule. I flew home from Connecticut and spent my summer alone and later, with my mother. It was pretty hard to be a newlywed and to not have my husband with me. While there, in August, he was flown to Cape Town for his job interview. Afterwards, I flew out to meet him in Connecticut, and we drove back out across the USA.

Niagara Falls. Briefly.

The fall of 2010 was made up of P working on gathering his dissertation data and making the decision about whether we really wanted to move to South Africa. We thought long and hard and decided to say yes. P graduated in the commencement ceremonies, even though he defended in January.

The first two months of 2011 were filled with finishing up my job and P writing his dissertation. The day he defended was the day that President Obama came to Tucson for “Together we Thrive.” We had a few good-bye dinners and social outings. We packed up all of our belongings and learned about ourselves and what seems to matter most to us. We left the top of our wedding cake in our freezer- hopefully his sister has it. But it really doesn’t matter- whether we taste it or not means nothing of the strength of our relationship!

To find out how our life has been from the beginning of 2011, including these last few months, look at our past blog posts. P’s blog is here.

I love my husband and I cannot imagine my life without him or his family. I love them all. Because of them, he has such a great respect for women and has always treated me well. I know I am lucky because of this. He cares about what I care about, and always supports my ideas and passions. He is smart, compassionate, loving, and he is my hero. I am so glad to have him as my true companion.                     

 

   

Here's to many more years together!

Song of the Year: True Companion by Marc Chon