I married Bob. July 7, 2002.
And eight years ago yesterday evening, I was lost in Yonkers. I'd dashed out to find a nail place to get my manicure redone. (I'm so not the mani/pedi type ... well, not the mani type, at least. I could get used to pedis.) Anyway, my sister had treated me to a mani/pedi about a week before the wedding, and in trying to drive home (from the salon that very day) (in a truck with a manual transmission, which I really couldn't drive at that point), I messed up the fingernail of my left ring finger. Go figure.
So I had the job redone a week later on July 6th, but then (maybe due to one-way roads? I don't know. I usually have a really good "bump of direction," as my family calls it.) I got lost. I could not figure out how to get back. I think the Metro North Railroad played a role in it, too. I was on the wrong side of the tracks, but couldn't find a way to get across them. I finally stopped and asked for directions at a cell phone store, but the employees were too busy talking amongst themselves to bother with what could be their next customer... They finally deigned to address me, and then, with much impatience, told me how to get back to the SVOTS chapel, where I was currently late for my own wedding rehearsal. By the time I got there, I was in tears. Of course, it was no big deal. They were hardly going to start without me...
I don't remember much about the rehearsal, but then we all headed down to Central Park, where we had a picnic with Chinese take-out. Lots of fun. I wish I could remember the fortune from my fortune cookie. It was hilariously a propos (how do you make an accent grave, for French words??), saying something reassuring about "tomorrow night."
Then Bob headed back to his apartment in Brooklyn, and I headed back to Yonkers for the night.
Does anyone sleep well the night before the wedding? I didn't. It was just so hard to imagine what my life was going to be like. I was 21, still in college, moving from Florida to NYC, marrying a man I'd known for 10 years, but dated for (maybe?) 10 months.
Big, big changes.
The best decisions of my life.
No regrets.
4 comments:
Annie,
1. That is sooo sweet! So sweet.
2. I can't believe your mainicure lasted a week. Mine rarely last two days.
3.This is why, I firmly believe the bride should never go anywhere alone the few days before the wedding. Not that it would have kept you from getting lost, but at least you would have been lost with someone.
4. Happy Anniversary
Megan, thank you! I did edit the post just a bit, to clarify that I in fact ruined the manicure the very day I got it. Like, I'd maybe had it for 10 minutes. Ugh.
I astonished myself by sleeping extremely well the night before the wedding. Then I got sleepy as we drove off for the honeymoon and Jane ended up driving - through a dandy thunderstorm.
Happy, happy anniversary to two of the most wonderful people I know! God grant you many blessed years!!!
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