10 years

Larry and I will celebrate our 10^th wedding anniversary this week.

In some ways, 10 years seems like a long time. A lot has changed in our lives over that time.

And yet, 10 years is but just a segment of what I hope is a much longer life together.

We were planning a small church wedding for January 2004. But our plans changed.

In late summer 2003, I moved out of the house I had rented in Rustburg for a few years and moved in with my mother for the few months before we got married. Larry and I moved most of my furniture and things into the house he already had in Altavista.

One evening after work, I was over at Larry’s and he asked me if I would ever consider eloping.

We talked about it and decided that we wanted to get married sooner rather than wait for January. But I didn’t want to go off and get married with no family there. So we decided to get married at the courthouse by the judge.

We set a date with the circuit court judge for Nov. 7, and that’s the day we got married. My mother and brothers and Larry’s parents and daughter were present.

Larry was sick that week with a really bad sinus infection, complete with a fever. Occasionally, when we talk about our wedding, Larry laughs and says he doesn’t remember the ceremony. So are we really married? he asks.

Oh, yes, I tell him. I have pictures to prove it.

Here’s one of those pictures:

I didn’t get married until I was 40 years old. I was engaged to someone else long ago, before I met Larry.

I’m so glad I waited for the right one: Larry.