10th Anniversary

Today is the 10th anniversary of the day H and I were married. What an amazing day it was. The year was 1997 and it was a Friday. We had decided earlier that week that we were going to take off work on Friday and elope without telling anyone in our families or anyone we worked with. We called and set the date with a justice of the peace and told him we would meet him at his place of business Friday at 1. We went to the courthouse right before then and got our license. The lady that asked us all the questions and gave us our license asked if we wanted one of the judges upstairs to marry us. We told her we never thought about that as an option and had already called a justice of the peace and he was waiting for us.

I wore a cream colored pant suit and sadly cannot remember what H wore. Anyway, after the courthouse, we went to the justice of the peace to exchange our vows. He asked us where we wanted to exchange our vows. We said right where we were was fine. He said that some people chose to get married in the gazebo across the street. We declined and said where we were was fine. I remember he seemed shocked. Where we were happened to be the back counter of his appliance store. Weird, I know, but that is where we got married. Right next to the cash register. I guess he had a good reason to seem shocked. I still can't believe that we turned down that gorgeous, white gazebo where everyone driving by would have seen us exchanging our vows and would have honked their horns. Obviously, it didn't matter to us where we got married - all that mattered to us was that we got married.

So that H would remember the day, we decided to go to Tunica, MS and gamble to mark the day. He had never been in a casino before, and I wanted him to always remember this day and not have any excuse for forgetting our anniversary. :-)

We stayed in a really nice hotel not far from Tunica that was pretty expensive. We gambled off and on from Friday through Sunday. Once we got home, we called both of our parents and let them know we were married. Needless to say, they were shocked, hurt, and extremely surprised. A year later, we went back to the same hotel just to look at it and walk around. Sadly, they turned it into a nursing home. I was so sad I cried. H told me that I should look at it as a sign that we are meant to grow old together. I took great comfort in that.

By the way, everytime we drive by that appliance store, we always look at each other and say - "We got married there." I'm going to have to take a picture of it so I'll always have it in case the store ceases to exist at some point in time. Whenever I share this story with people, they cannot believe that I was actually okay with getting married in an appliance store. The way I see it, I have a very unique and memorable story to tell about my wedding. :-) It's lasted for 10 years so I guess an appliance store is an okay place to get married in. For all you out there who want a tried and tested location to get married, I highly recommend an appliance store. Ask all your divorced friends where they got married. I bet they say a church. :-)

I also bet not one of them say they were married in an appliance store. Trust me, it's the place to merge lives forever.