April 24, 2002 10:00 am

Anniversary

It feels funny to see the date on this entry. It was a nine years ago today, at noon, that Mark and I said our I Do's at the Church of the Holy Communion of Frankford in Dallas. Long name for such a sweet little church. It was a blustery spring morning with the wind blowing up a gale. The video of guests coming across the parking lot has them holding their hair and their skirts and walking at an angle into the wind---you would have thought we were back home in Amarillo. Maybe God just wanted me to feel more "at home" for my wedding day. As the service progressed and there was lots of silence during it, the old church creaked all around us, almost picked up by the wind. There was a sprinkling of rain that morning, too, which is a sign of good luck on a wedding day, I've heard.

Although the wedding day was fabulous and memorable, I was so glad we had a noon wedding with no huge long reception. We were so ready to get through that step and get away and be alone. We left the church to imaginary rice throwing (you make do when the church says NO RICE) and dashed to our house to change and get on the road.

How's this for a memorable first day of marriage (no, I won't bore you with the whole honeymoon)? Okay, we started at McDonald's. When you're starving you aren't thinking of what you'll remember in the long-term (actually, I think we did laugh that our first married meal was in the car eating McDonald's burgers). Our first REAL stop was at "our hill" as it has come to be known, far south of Dallas where the bluebonnets were in abundance. We have some of the greatest pictures we'll ever take or be in from that day. They are on permanent display in our house still.

We went on to make a stop at Cefcik Hall. I may have the spelling wrong and I'm not sure right now how you even get there, but it is a fabulous old dance hall/beer joint in a Czech community that Mark had played at and wanted me to see. The dance hall is upstairs and looks like the 1920s all over again. Big wooden floor, huge stage with painted signs advertising the community businesses, all with many consonants and few vowels!

We made it to Salado in time for dinner and ate at the historic Salado Inn (is that its name? I'm suffering from memory loss this morning). No! Stagecoach Inn, that's it.

We headed on to Austin for our first night as a married couple, a sign that this should be our home! My job in Dallas (reporting traffic) had given me two nights at the Embassy Suites as a wedding present, a very generous, thoughtful gift. We got there and checked in, but we couldn't be in Austin without going out so our wedding night was at Antone's---the last one on Guadalupe. Not a memorable band playing that night (I don't know if we ever even knew their name), but an experience to be in Austin and hearing live music.

Back at the hotel (no, you don't get ALL the details) Mark gave me a beautiful nightgown as a wedding gift. It was very sweet because we had discussed wedding gifts for one another and decided that was a silly expense we didn't need to spend, but he found a way to give me that. And we had champagne and strawberries waiting from room service because our free room included lots of food.

So that was nine years ago today. Today Mark is on a 700 mile trip across Germany and Denmark on his way to Copenhagen. They do not have a gig today, just travel. He called at 1 a.m. this morning as they began their trip (about 8 a.m. there) and wished me happy anniversary. He didn't know if he would be near any phones on the rest of the trip.

Then I woke to the doorbell this morning and a delivery man with a huge bouquet of roses and stargazer lilies stood there while I stood inside open-mouthed. I hope he didn't expect a tip--I was too asleep and too in shock to think of something like that.

Last year we had company on our anniversary, a couple from Kansas. Two years ago Mark's Mom and her husband were here on our anniversary. This year we're each alone on our anniversary. I think we'd better start making plans for number 10 next year right now so we can be alone AND together!

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Book Club - Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014
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Back to Work - Monday, Jan. 06, 2014
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