June 20, 1992, 10:00 am. The house I grew up in was a whirlwind of excitement, commotion, noise, and a little bit of panic. My mom had just finished getting her hair done and it was my turn. Simple curls and my hair kept down so my mother’s veil could cascade through it. At the kitchen table were my two cousins painting their nails hoping they would dry before picture time.

I was getting married to my best friend.

An hour later, my mom asked if I wanted a sandwich before I got dressed. I wasn’t hungry (full of butterflies and nerves) and headed upstairs to my parent’s bedroom where my dress was waiting for me. In the quiet stillness of the bedroom, it was just me and the dress I have waited to put on since I was a little girl. I was excited and scared of the big step I was about to take.

Still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that my wedding day was here, my college girls arrived to help me finish up buttoning my dress and attaching the pearls to the back. It was perfect timing. I needed the encouragement and the laughter that only my girls could give me at that moment.

The day was a blur. We took separate pictures before the ceremony. (We didn’t want to see each other before the wedding.) The first time Micky would see me is when I walked down the aisle with my father. Then after a full wedding Mass ceremony, we took pictures together. We had a full prime rib dinner (my parents wanted the best for their only daughter’s wedding) with all the fixings and a dance later that evening.

29 years later – here we are. It feels as if it was only a year ago.

I was 19 and Micky was 21 when we started our lives together. People may say we were too young to get married. For some, that may be true. But for us, it was perfect and we made it work. Our journey together has been filled with discoveries about each other and how we fit into each other’s lives. There have been multiple vacations together, different jobs, moving three times, babies (3 amazing sons and two heart-breaking miscarriages), date nights, and learning about each other’s idiosyncrasies.

Has it been easy?…hell no. We have been tested along the way. But when we look back on those hard times, it was for a reason and has made us better people and a better couple. Some of those stories may reach this blog once I get the courage to talk about them. The one thing we have stood by all of these years is that no matter what happens, divorce was not an option. Period. That is the foundation of our family. It is the rock that we stand on and teach our sons as they are growing into young men right before our eyes.

As I write this blog today on our anniversary, with a tear in my eye I watch (and hear) Micky taking a nap in his favorite chair I think to myself…This is the best decision I have ever made. I cannot wait to see where we go from here. 🥰