The day after

Yesterday was our anniversary. We've been married 17 years. There had been a big snow storm the day before our wedding and we worried that many people wouldn't make it. The crowd was reduced but the people in the wedding had come early and since my two best friends and their wives came from Vermont and extreme northern Maine, our "little" snow didn't phase them. We had a wonderful wedding and reception. Since our first night together was going to be at an inn not far from home, we didn't have to worry about getting there in the snow.

The next day, we awoke to a beautiful, sunny morning. It was still cold and there was still plenty of snow. We were going to spend the rest of our honeymoon at two bed and breakfast inns in Vermont so we packed up to start our trip there. We were going to have breakfast at this inn before we left, though. We sat in a sunny alcove that looked out on a snow covered garden. Birds were flying around the feeder and it looked so peaceful.

One of my worries when I was younger and single was that, if I could ever get married, even if the wedding and reception might be nice, I would wake up the next morning and think, "Now what? I have to spend the rest of my life with this woman. What have I done?" But this morning, 17 years ago, it was just the opposite. I looked over at my beautiful wife in the tranquil setting and thought, "I get to wake up like this every day for the rest of my life. Who could ask for anything better?" It was a wonderful start to our marriage but things have just gotten better as we've gone along. Of course, I COULD have had the worrisome thought on our first day together. But that's why it's important to make sure about the decision you make about the woman you're going to marry. I wish for everyone to have the same good fortune I had in meeting and marrying my wife. But she is taken. You've got to find your own dream girl.

The picture here (obviously not taken in the winter) is from the website of the inn, The Dan'l Webster Inn in Sandwich, MA. I'll try to look up pictures of the two bed and breakfasts we stayed at in Vermont for a later post.