Anniversary Weekend, Part 1.

Cub has joked that Earl and I tend to celebrate a variety of anniversaries. There’s the anniversary of our first date, the anniversary of when I told Earl I loved him for the first time, the anniversary of when we moved in together and the anniversary of our commitment ceremony at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia. This weekend we are celebrating a new anniversary, and that’s the anniversary of our legal marriage. One year ago tomorrow Earl and I exchanged our vows in front of family and friends at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in the lovely hamlet of Verona, New York.

We have returned to the scene of this commitment to spend some time together this weekend.

We are staying at The Lodge. I am told that this is a five-start resort. The folks here are quite friendly and quite good at the whole hospitality thing. The music is playing as I type; the music being part of the turn-down service. Our slippers and bathrobe await. I’m ready to get comfortable.

Earl and I have reservations for our official anniversary dinner tomorrow night; tonight we opted to eat at the steakhouse on the property. The dinner was quite good, though probably too many calories. The conversation with my husband was effortless as it should be and we proudly told our server that we were celebrating our wedding anniversary. She brought us desserts with a candle. I thought that was nice.

Gambling at the casino is not high on the priority list for the weekend, but we are doing a little gambling and I’m currently up about $50 from where I started. I can’t complain about that. Earl has done better and he decided to stay a few moments longer while I type this blog entry. He asked why I cashed out early; I told him that I was adding to the computer fund because I’d like to get a new laptop one of these days. He just smiled knowingly.

I was chatting with my friend Sandy at work today and she couldn’t believe that Earl and I had been together for 16 years. That’s a long time in this day and age! I told her that it feels like forever but it also feels like only yesterday when I first went crazy over this gorgeous redheaded bear. I fell head over heels for him in 1996 and I’ve done it every morning since that life changing day.

My life has never been better. And this is the weekend to celebrate the reason for that.

I think the wine from dinner is making me a little sappy.