A for Anniversary!

Yesterday MusicMan and I celebrated two years of marriage. Well, I mean, we didn’t really go all out or anything, because I started Algebra class last night, but we did acknowledge our anniversary.

Well, MusicMan did more than me (as usual). I came home from class to beautiful flowers, a lovely little cake (decorated similarly to a tier of our wedding cake) for us to share, and a wonderful, meaningful card from MusicMan alongside a funny card from the dogs. (The card from the dogs included, “Thanks for not making me a bastard anymore, mommy and daddy. Love, Lucy.” You see, we got Lucy shortly after we moved in together—almost a year before we got married. MusicMan is a funny guy.)

What did I do for MusicMan? Not a damn thing. I meant to get a card. I really did. But, I just didn’t find make the time. Clearly MusicMan is the more romantic of the two of us. He always has been. For the whole first year that we dated, and really up until the wedding, he got me flowers on every monthiversary of our first date. Yes; you read that correctly. On the 23rd of every single month for almost two years, I got flowers. I’m a super lucky girl; I know that.

I was so disappointed in my inability to even get MusicMan a card that I cried. Hard. I just felt like the most awful wife in the whole entire world. Of course MusicMan didn’t care. He told me that all that mattered to him was that I was his wife, that for two years we have been blissfully wed, and that we were spending time together with each other for at least some of our anniversary. Of course that just made me cry harder. We spent the rest of the evening talking about how wonderful our wedding had been and reminiscing over all of our favorite moments from the past two years.

Our wedding truly was ours. We planned it and paid for it all on our own. And when I say we planned it, I mean we. The two of us. Together. MusicMan played a very active role in the wedding planning process, making it just as much his wedding as it was mine. We found out quickly, while planning the biggest party of our lives, that we make a good team. We work together very well and are quite good at compromising. All of our hard work showed in the details of our wedding. It truly reflected us, and we couldn’t have been happier with the results of our hard work.

Working together to plan the wedding also helped us to plan our marriage, which in my opinion anyway, is by far the more important of the two. The wedding lasts one singular day that flies by in the blink of an eye, but the marriage is meant to last a lifetime. When I walked down the aisle that day, I knew I was walking not only towards the love of my life, but also towards the man who would be my partner in good and bad, and I was—we were—ready. Marriage hasn’t been hard for us. I’m not trying to brag, but it really, truly hasn’t been hard. Perhaps that’s because we grew to be best friends along the way.

I think the trials and tribulations we faced before we were even married had a lot to do with it too. It started with the death of my sister; to this day, I don’t know how I would’ve gotten through all of that without MusicMan by my side, and I couldn’t imagine anyone but him by my side during that time. (That’s not to discount the overwhelming support from close friends and family too.)

The death of MusicMan’s grandpa followed a couple months later. A couple months after that, we had a dryer fire in our townhouse. The resultant damage required us to live in a hotel for a month. During that time, we continued planning the wedding, while working with the insurance company and our landlord to get the damage fixed as quickly as possible, and living out of two laundry baskets and a crate of our belongings. About a month after we moved back into our house, my grandma passed away. It just didn’t seem like life was working in our favor.

Our own mothers, both total drama queens, marveled at the fact that our relationship didn’t seem to suffer in any way from all of the negativity swirling around us. We stuck together—worked together—through all of it. Continuing forward motion, because really, what else can you do? Things eventually settled down, and our fabulous wedding was the reward for our perseverance.

Now we’re married; enjoying life as man and wife. And, despite the fact that MusicMan was everything I said I didn’t want; a former long-haired hippy who rode a motorcycle, had numerous tattoos, and plays in a band, he’s absolutely perfect for me. I couldn’t be happier. Because what I found by stepping outside of the box was a man who is kind, loving, generous, intelligent, helpful, funny, supportive, and encouraging; a true partner who loves me for who I am—faults and all. You just can’t get much luckier than that.

I leave you with a photo slideshow of some of my favorite wedding photos. Enjoy!