I recently experienced the most special day of my life, to date, it was truly an overwhelming experience.

I have been hanging with my best friend for nearly 22 years and we recently celebrated 20 years of being hitched. Our anniversary was actually on September 22 but we celebrated on Saturday the eighteenth.

It all started a few weeks prior to that with an idea I had to attempt to surprise Bride on our anniversary. If you don’t know this about me, I go out to the beach at least once a week to watch the sunrise. I get there when it is dark and get to watch the whole show. Bride is not a morning person but she does like to go sometimes and always goes with me on our anniversary. Well I remember when we got married we talked about a 5 year deal, if we still liked each other in 5 years we would get married again, if either of us thought is wasn’t working out we would have the opportunity to get out. Seems silly as hell 20 years later but that was our mentality when we started out together. So when we hit the 5 year mark we were still having fun so we convinced our great friend Lonnie to reaffirm our vows, and we did the deed at our house with about 50 people in attendance.

That was a great experience and we planned then that we would just keep a running 5 year deal, if one of us wanted out, we had to wait for the 5 year mark when the contract was due. Well along came 10 years and it so happened to be working out that on our anniversary we were closing on our new home, not brand new but new to us. We celebrated well into the night with our great friends Scott and Sara, who were just dating then and have since gotten married and just added little Jack to the family. So we did not officially renew our contract on the 10 year mark, but buying another house together was kind of an unofficial renewal of the deal. We did not renew at 15 either, that was about the time that Bride was diagnosed with Bi-polar disorder. That was quite a blow to our otherwise idyllic lives that required a reevaluation of everything, not whether we still loved each other but how this news was going to affect our lives moving forward.

We have both learned a lot about life in those years between 15 and 20. I think after all the turbulence we both experienced we came out the other side stronger than ever. I am not saying that she is no longer Bi-polar, I am saying that we approached it like everything else in our lives, with open minds and love. The medications are crazy and changes in medications are even crazier but we are still chugging away, still in love and dealing with life one day at a time as it comes. All we have is this moment and we learned that no matter how much planning for the future you do, it can all change with a 15 minute trip to the doctor’s office. We live in the moment, Bride is retired now and has even gotten her nose pierced and is growing her hair out and not coloring it anymore, I love her confidence. She says she is throwing off the shackles of the business where she toiled for so long. She is the strongest woman I have ever known. Even when her mind is playing tricks on her, she just keeps on keeping on. I do not think that I would be strong enough to deal with a diagnosis like that.

Anyway, back to a few weeks ago when I decided to surprise her for our 20 year contract negotiation. I thought, I will get Lonnie to marry us again, I had recently reconnected with him on FaceBook. He was unable to make it though, work obligations. I was sad about that but was not willing to let the idea die there. I have a great friend, Pervalia, who recently became more active in ministering to those in need through her church. I called her and she said she would marry us, and to top that we would be her first marriage. OK I thought we are on our way. I wanted to surprise Bride on the beach while we were watching the sunrise. I contacted some of our other friends to see if they were interested in getting up VERY early and making it the beach. After I meticulously timed things out, as long as everyone was on the beach by 6:15 or so it would still be dark enough that we would not be able to recognize anyone. So that is what we did, my Niece Amanda was a gate keeper, directing folks where we were at and where they were supposed to go and wait. She then called me, under some other guise to let me know that everyone was there and ready. I asked Bride if she would marry me again and when she said yes, I jumped up and did a little jig, that was the cue for everyone to make their way over to where we were sitting.

Well I had spent so much time planning the event and getting things arranged, who was bringing mimosa’s and things like that that I neglected to think about myself. I was also worrying about Bride finding out and how excited that she would be that I had not spent one minute thinking about how this would make me feel. Well Bride was very excited and it was an incredible experience watching the realization and happiness sweep across her face as our friends came wandering up, at O-dark thirty on the beach. I found myself completely overwhelmed with joy. I can not even begin to describe how special it was. To Watch Bride beaming with joy made my heart leap with joy, it was very emotional for me, it was priceless. I had given Pervalia free rein as far as the service, which ended up being a rededication of our rings. It was the most incredible and beautiful service I have ever heard – thank you Pervalia for officiating the most wonderful ceremony ever, I was so happy that we could be your first, you always remember your first time.

To be able to share that wonderful experience with our friends at sunrise meant so much to me, the fact everyone got up so early to share this very special moment with us was overwhelming and I can not thank everyone enough for coming. I want to try by thanking them here, Thank you Scott and Sara, thank you Doug and Judy, thank you Bob and Beth, thank you Betsy and Wally, thank you Pervalia and Vincent, thank you Jeff, thank you Roy, thank you Ruth-Ellen and Vincent, thank you Conny and Mark, thank you Bobbie, thank you Amanda, thank you Debbie and thank you Tami. You guys, one and all, contributed to my experiencing the most incredible day of my life to date. Not to mention that without Sandy saying yes none of this would have been possible.

Sandy, you mean more to me than I ever thought anyone ever would. I can not imagine what my life would be like without you in it, it would no doubt be a dark place without joy and with dim, uneventful sunrises. You make my life complete and I can not believe my luck in finding and catching you. Everyday my love for you continues to grow. I want to take away your fears and sooth your concerns, I want to lift you above the fray that some seem to get stuck in. I want to continue to be best friends, who can laugh at the ridiculousness of life. I want to be having coffee with you at sunset on the river for the rest of my life. I enjoy hanging out with you so much that I will keep playing the lotto so I no longer have to go to work and we can just play together.

Thank you everyone for being involved in making me and Bride so very happy!!!