2005, year 6

I love this story.  Every time I think of it I laugh out loud.  Poor K, this story is all about him. 

Back in the day K had the BIGGEST crush on Julia Stiles.  I mean, the kind of crush that brought out the 'if you were allowed to sleep with any celebrity and not get in trouble, who would it be' conversations.  She was always, always, always at the top of his list.  I thought it was cute :-)

So, in 2005 we travelled to Omaha, Nebraska for K's youngest brother, M's, wedding.  He was the last to get married off, and K was his best man and I was a bridesmaid.  So we spent the week there helping with everything.  A few days before the wedding, we did the bachelor/bachelorette parties.  While they started out separately, we all ended up at the bar where the then happy couple met. The guys were there first.  I was the DD that night, so had only had about 1 drink all night.  But the guys, and the girls were all, well, wasted.  K included.

So we walk in the bar, and K sees me and comes over to say hi.  I can tell he's pretty lit and find it really darn amusing in my very sober state.  So we chat for a second, and then his eye's light up.  I mean, like a kid on Christmas light up.  He leans in and (stage) whispers to me (oh yeah, that was because he was too drunk to realize it was louder than he wanted LOL) 'you gotta come see this Emms, you really gotta come see this.'  He proceeds to grab my arm and drag me across the room to the bar.  We stop, he lets go, and looks at me expectantly.

Um, yeah, I had NO idea what I was looking at.  So, apparently the quizzical look in my eye's finally let him know that, and he leaned forward, and (stage) whispered to me again 'look behind me.'  Luckily, it was loud at the bar, and everyone was drunk, so I don't really think anyone heard.

Because I had no idea what I was looking for, I tried to be kind of casual about it as I turned around and scanned the crowd.  Who do my eyes fall on but...

JULIA STILES.

OK, OK, it really wasn't her, but this wasn't one of those 'you remind me of...' or 'has anyone told you that you look like....' situations.  I mean, this girl WAS Julia, without really being her.  If that makes sense.  I mean, I was even kind of star struck, even though I knew that there was no way that M knew Julia Stiles and we never knew it.  I think I even stared for a minute, eye's wide open, mouth ajar.  Surprised.  Then I shook myself out of it and turned to find giddy eyed K practically dancing at the bar with excitement.

It turns out it was the wife of a friend that M went to high school with.  No, her name was NOT Julia.  But I'm telling you, it was uncanny.  So we ended up talking quite a bit that night (and the next few nights as well), as she turned out to be sober too. 

Because I am me, and cruel like this, I decided to share K's immense crush with this woman.  She got QUITE the kick out of it and we enjoyed playing poor, drunk K up for the rest of the night as she flirted with him.  I'm betting he had pleasant dreams that night!!

Needless to say, M is now divorced and dating, well, a crazy woman.  Yep, gotta love my in laws :-)

2002, year 3

I could again go with the obvious, and talk about our wedding.  This time though, I think I will!

When we had gotten engaged in March 2001, I immediately decided that I wanted to get married on June 22, 2002.  I honestly didn't even know if it was a Saturday or not, but lucky for us, it was.

I planned our wedding for us, and had a blast doing it.  But as every bride knows, the last few weeks before the wedding I was stressed.  K told me I lost weight, but I didn't realize how much until I look back at pictures.  I was (am) pretty small to begin with, and I lost somewhere around 10 or so pounds.  May not seem like much, but I was skin and bones.

The two weeks before the wedding, I lived on ice cream.  It was shaping up to be a hot summer, which I thought I wouldn't have to worry about by getting married in June.  Boy was I wrong.  The day of the wedding  it was in the 90's with a heat index over 100.  Awesome.

I made it through the morning with tears falling only twice, once when we passed the cemetary where my Grandma was buried (she was supposed to be there for this!), and once when a former boss, as well as longtime friend, came down to see me in the room where we got ready.  We had some laughs getting the dress on without messing up my hair, veil, or makeup.  In the pictures as I am getting ready to walk up the stairs to walk down the aisle, you can see the excitement in my eyes.

The moment that I walked down the aisle was magical.  Both of my parents gave me away, and the excitement between K and I was palpable. We memorized our vows, but when I stood in front of that church, looking into K's eyes, I almost completely forgot them.  Messed em up a little, but no one but us knew.  When we did the part where K had to say 'I take you as my wedded wife' he said 'wedded husband' and the whole church laughed.  When the Father (a catholic wedding) said 'you may kiss the bride' we kissed, then we kissed again.  Right before the Father pronounced us man and wife, he made a comment that he was surprised K wasn't taking me away on his motorcycle (a go fast bike) instead of the limo we hired. 

As we walked back down the aisle, new man and wife, I know that everyone could feel our happiness.  One of the greatest pictures I have, but unfortunately not in digital format, is of that moment, I have a HUGE grin on my face, and K is giving the camera a thumbs up.  Says it all.

Some pictures from the church, after the ceremony:

I cannot say the rest of the day went off without a hitch.  As I mentioned, it was unbearably hot.  When we left to drive around before pictures, we had to stop and get me some nuts and water because I felt faint.  Then, we went to get pictures at the botanical gardens, and after we were done I took my shoes off because my feet were swelling, then couldn't get them back on.  So, we went to the mall (the entire wedding party) instead of the art museum.  Cooled down, bought some slippers, and got some lemonade.

Then we headed to the reception hall, where we managed to beat most of our guests due to a train.  So we left and went back.  In the process, someone realized that we had forgotten all of our mixed CD's at the church, 20 mins away.  They included all of 'our' songs (my brother was acting DJ for us).  So, my mom, being a saint, gave money to some friends and sent them out for the most important songs.

The reception was a blast.  Lots of dancing, lots of talking, lots of pictures.  In fact, the photographers were great, which was good because I found out that the photographer I had hired was sending someone in his place - 2 days before the wedding.  I almost had a melt down about that one... very stressed.

At the end of the reception, my mom and I fought over the fact that she forgot my contact solutions and case.  Then, we left and realized that the keys to our truck were back at the church.  So we had to wait outside, in the muggy heat in my dress, while someone ran to get them out of another car and brought them back to us.

But you know what?  It's all good memories.  Nothing bad about it at all.  The whole day was magical, as was the night :-)  When we finally made it to our hotel room in downtown, we overlooked the river.  It was so picture perfect.  We made some coffee, then counted our money from the dollar dance - pathetic, I know.  We needed some wind down time before we enjoyed consumating the new marriage.  The day was long awaited, and of course, flew by so fast.  Everything fell into place, even when dealing with the difficulties mentioned, and those I chose to leave out. 

This day was the moment that I felt my life come together.  It was the culmination of bad and good choices that built me as a person, and that person was who K fell in love with.  I thank God everyday for his love and devotion.  Without him I would be a lost soul.  With him, I am whole.  I love you K.

The honeymoon was in Jamaica, and was full of it's own surprises.  I'll give you two of the one's that still make us laugh.  One day we were enjoying a shower together, and I heard something, so I pulled back the curtain to find the maid handing us some towels, letting us know that they had been short towels when they cleaned the room. 

The second was the 3:00am knock on the door by a hooker (yep, a hooker) trying to convince K that she needed a place to sleep, and no, his new wife wouldn't care.  Um, yeah, not so much. 

9 years ago today

I was waking up after not being able to sleep.

I was grabbing a bagel for breakfast and heading to the hairdressers. We got free donuts that morning from the donut shop across the street. It was a tradition I guess, and they always sent people over.

9 years ago today I cried as we drove past the cemetery where my Nana is buried. She was missing this amazing day, as she had missed others. I missed her so and felt the pain of my loss as I had that night almost 5 years prior.

9 years ago today we were rushing back to my apartment to gather everything we needed, all my girls and my mom. Freaking out because we were running late.

9 years ago today I was feeling blessed as I got ready downstairs in the church. It was Hot Hot Hot outside, abnormally hot for that day in June.

9 years ago today my parents walked me down the aisle and handed me off to my future, my destiny.

9 years ago today I married my best friend. My soul mate. The love of my life. Without him I would be nothing, with him I am fulfilled.