It truly seems like yesterday that Scott and I were married on a beautiful, if not unusually sunny, 85 degree day in Tacoma, Washington. The setting was a rose garden at what had been the Weyerhaeuser Mansion. The setting could not have been more beautiful. My mom, my sister Amy and I had planned all the details. I remember being at our rehearsal dinner on the same veranda the reception would take place, and getting choked up as we thanked everyone for coming and being a part of our special day. I should have cried then. I am known to be emotional and cry at even silly commercials. Instead I waited until my sister looked at me as we were watching Scott seat his mom and grandmother for the wedding, and she said... "this is everything you dreamed of" to start to cry. I was thrilled, but could not hold back the tears. I think I cried throughout the wedding. As we stood before our friends and family overlooking the Puget Sound, we pledged to love, honor and cherish each other until death we would part. We even pledged each other our "troths".... whatever that even means. We decided to use traditional vows, nothing too cliche or made up. I can still hear a plane fly over as my dad walked me down the aisle. It was one of my best days.
Scott and I spent our first night as husband and wife in La Conner, Washington watching the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. We ate some of the best pizza we had ever tasted and reflected on the chaotic day that would forever be our wedding day. There were times when the stress of not having enough strawberries for the chocolate covered strawberries we served at the reception or when my mother thought my dress was dragging in the bark during pictures, that we thought we should have eloped. But overall, the day was really magical and a memory that will be forever sealed as perfect.
Since then we have celebrated our anniversary in many different ways. One year we spent it at The Dolphin Motel in Cape Hatteras, NC. It smelled like my grandma's basement, but we loved the day we spent at the beach climbing over the dunes and having an entire beach to ourselves.
Tonight we went to dinner at the Bonefish Grill and enjoyed a dinner without our three boys, good seafood, good wine and wonderful conversations about our memories of our day and plans for our vacation to the East Coast starting Wednesday. I never tire of spending time with the man who took my breath away when I first was introduced to him in January, 1990. He is the one who stole my heart on our first date, October 20, 1990. After he dropped me off, I told my sister I had just had a date with the man I was going to marry. And, of course, I cried. He promised me his love on December 24, 1991 when he asked me to be his wife and really we have been living happily ever after. The days when we choose to be in love seem to pale in comparison to the days when I consider myself blessed to be with someone I can call my best friend and the one I would be lost without. I am so thankful for Scott James Beattie. He is the one I will grow old with and who still makes my tummy tickle when I see him from across the room.
I love you!
