Where Amy Gets Choked Up

Now that our wedding has taken place and John and I have begun to settle into married life -- which, honestly is not much different than our lives before, it's just better -- I've had time to reflect on this past week and how everything went down.  It was all a bit overwhelming, really.  When I woke up on Friday, November 12th, I got a bit prosaic and maudlin alternately with barely being able to remember my own name.  Yeah, the level-headed, realistic Amy was temporarily replaced with Spazoid Amy.  Jittery, nervous, worried, fretting that everything would go right -- and I know I must've repeated myself too many times to count.  Scatter-brained much?

I may have mentioned that part of my family was able to travel down to NC to make sure that I'd actually carry through with it and successfully say "I do".  Three of my best friends were in attendance, along with my mom and her friend.  We even had Baron there - albeit in a picture frame, but it didn't feel right not to bring a memento with us, knowing he was there in spirit.


The ceremony itself was simple and gorgeous, set amongst the autumn-turned trees (seriously, a riot of colors) on a beach in Lake Norman.  At that time of the day - our wedding was at 4pm - the sun is just starting to drop in the western sky and on that day it was a bright golden glow reflected in the lake's surface.  Yes, I wore shades for a short moment as I took my place among our friends, only ditching them in time to walk with my mom to stand beside John.  One of the best things in the wedding was, as we waited for everyone to get into some semblance of order (hello, no church pews), Lynda, the officiant and a dear friend, sent the rings around the group of guests, asking that each one "bless" them or send out a good thought or prayer for our new life together.  Not being a big church goer, I'd wanted the rings blessed somehow -- this was perfect.

John and I wrote our own vows for this.  Having only experienced the more traditional weddings, we wanted to do something that was more geared to the way we live.  So, having said that -- we blended in some highly romantic lines with a humorous one or two.  Or at least *we* thought they were funny and people laughed a bit - mixed in with a lot of crying, not counting myself (sobbing) and John (seriously teary-eyed).

Do I feel any different?  Honestly -- yes.  I feel more complete, if that makes any sense.  John and I got along fabulously well before the wedding, and it was our fear of failure (both being divorcees) that kept us from taking this step for too long.  But things change and people get older and hopefully wiser.  I'm proud to be a Mrs. now.  I'm honored to be John's wife.  And before I get too sappy and choked up, I wouldn't trade my life for all the money in the world.