Happy Anniversary Redux: Karen and Dirk

If you know my sister, then you'll note that our wedding anniversaries are just two days apart. Amy is 4 years older than I am, but I married two years earlier. While we chose the same reception site, the same photographer, and many of the same guests, our weddings were pretty different.



She was married in the Catholic Church, while Dirk and I struggled to find a "person of God" who would marry a lapsed Catholic and a half-Jewish, half-Catholic, self-professed heathen in a country club. We settled on a Unitarian; he gave us an unexpected Jesus smackdown once he had us at the make-shift altar.



I wanted nothing more than to marry my husband, and I loved that dress with all my heart.



It was beautiful. All of it.



But my memories of my wedding reflect one kick-ass dress and what can only be described as the leaning tower of cake.



My dad passed away in August 2004, and many of my most recent dirty little secrets revolve around the aftermath of his illness and death. He was an amazing, larger than life kind-of-guy. One of my favorite moments that day was right before I took his arm and marched down the aisle.



What do you think he just said to me? Yep. "Are you sure you want to do this, honey? Just checking."



I did. I wanted to do it because my husband is my soulmate. He really is. He's a nudge, and would like to give me things to write about here. He'll try to be snarky and then say, "well, will I make it?" And while sometimes he is a royal pain in the ass, he is what sees me through the dark times and into the sunshine. And it's not a secret.



April 15, 2000