Today is a very special wedding anniversary. It’s number seven for one thing, which is special enough. I mean, seven years, who does anything for seven years anymore? We must really like each other :) It’s also our first anniversary as parents. I have to work today unfortunately, and I have an ominous-looking afternoon meeting I’m not looking forward to. I’d love to be able to take the day off with Michelle and just run for the hills. But mom’s coming over tonight to watch the little man so we can go out and have us a fancy dinner at Zola, which we’re excited about.
Here are some fun facts about Michelle and me (also known as A+M):
• We met at MTSU and became friends sometime in 1997. She was, um, married at the time, but we were all part of a group of friends. I’d never had a group of friends before.
• She somehow knew that my girlfriend had evil-looking eyes. She was right.
• She was responsible for getting me my first job as a graphic designer. I got to work right next to her for the next six years.
• We once had the most amazing conversation at Don Pablo’s that lasted at least three hours.
• She, along with my brother, bought me a stool for my college graduation. My brother thought it was mean for Sam’s Club to not give me a stool to sit on while I worked. So now I had no excuse. In fact, they bought me two stools.
• Our first kiss lasted 45 minutes. I think that’s a good sign. And we both said “I love you” at the exact same time. Another good sign.
• I proposed to her on a snowy day in December at Cheekwood in the bamboo garden. I had used the excuse of wanting to take pictures of the snow, and also wanting to see the Beck art exhibit before it left town. Yes, I got down on one knee, even in the snow.
• Her engagement ring was based on a design by Montreal designer Claude Thibaudeau, and has a trillion-shaped diamond. We designed our own bands.
• We looked at lots of places to get married, but the moment we walked into Union Station, we knew immediately that it was the right place.
• Originally our dream was to get married on 11/11. There’s a band from Murfreesboro called Fluid Ounces that still holds a very special place in our hearts. They have a song called “Eleven Eleven.” But after some family pressure against the date, we moved it ahead four months to 8/11. About the time we were getting ready to send our invitations out and had booked pretty much everything, we learned that Union Station had double booked us on our date. We were … ummm … furious. We agreed to move our date to 8/12 for a substantial discount and upgrade of our reception space to something we could never have afforded without the screwup.
• Our wedding was the first and only time I’ve played guitar in front of an audience.
• My dad performed the ceremony.
• We left Union Station by horsedrawn carriage. We were also staying at Union Station that night, so they just took us around downtown and brought us back. We felt like rockstars. That evening we were starving and grabbed dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory.
• I think we had to get up the next morning around 3am to get to the airport to catch Air Jamaica to Ocho Rios. We stayed at the brand new Royal Plantation, which was unbelievable. Since then, the prices have skyrocketed and we heard that’s where Nick and Jessica Simpson honeymooned. It was also in the movie License to Wed. Yeah, you want our autographs, don’t you?
• And that band I mentioned, Fluid Ounces? Michelle and I realized about a month ago that the first place we saw them perform was upstairs in a little bar on the square in Murfreesboro, called Sebastian’s. We did NOT realize this when we were naming our kid!
We wrote our own vows, and they still make my heart warm when I read them:
I promise to love you,
to trust in you,
to comfort you now and forever.
I promise to commit my love to you unconditionally,
to respect your individuality,
to be your inspiration,
to walk with you through life’s changes
as long as we both shall live.
You can even see some wedding photos here.
Thinking back now to our wedding, if someone had told us that in exactly seven years, we would have our first kid … I probably would have believed them. We like numbers, and waiting 7 years seems pretty lucky to me.
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Congrats, you crazy kids!