It was going to be a long day.

I had to drive 100 miles south first thing in the morning to pick up my best friend from high school, and my mom after her work at the Senior Center. Cody went with me for the drive and I didn't know my mom's friend was coming along, but nonetheless we all squeezed into the car and drove back up to Bellingham.

By the time I arrived, the house was already filling with people. My future mother-in-law did some pretty nice decorations to spruce up our home - it didn't look fancy, but it didn't look tacky either. There was a lot of commotion, but I was mostly avoiding it because I wasn't entirely comfortable with that much attention being focused on me.

I remember getting dressed and feeling very anxious. It was a newish royal blue dress shirt, and a nice tie that I don't wear very often. I would wear the suit that I wear to videotape other people's weddings. I remember struggling with some old contacts that I haven't worn in over a year, and I remember them hurting quite a bit.

When I came downstairs, I felt inappropriately like the girl in the date movie, coming down the stairs for the big date. It didn't help when my wife's niece said I was a hottie.

I remember seeing her and it feeling rather surreal. She looked at me and probably felt the same.

The ceremony soon started, and seems like everyone was there, and none of them would gather up in that same space again. A lot of the people have moved on - to other jobs, to other countries, and even we ourselves have moved. It was such a weird feeling to feel so many eyes on you. I felt kinda beside myself.

During the ceremony, I was trying to keep my eyes on my wife's eyes, but she wouldn't look into mine. My hands were shaking, and I was trying very hard to keep the eye contact while Pete, the officiant, read stuff that I composed partially into my right ear. I felt like I was blushing, and my wife looked like she was about to sprint out of there.

When the ceremony ended, I don't really remember most of it, but when it ended, Pete mentioned that I had a strange request, to watch TV. We played my wedding present to my wife, a photo montage of us doing our dating thing, and then my serenade video to her. My wife had the happiest look on her face. A lot of people were surprised at that. I felt rather stupid and proud at the same time.

I would steal looks over to my mother, who was objecting to the marriage since I told her, even up to the point when I was driving her up that day. She seemed proud and happy, and she's never said anything since.

There was a toast, which nobody really made. Cody said something nice, and then nobody said anything else. I wondered if I was not that impressive or perhaps I just don't have speech-giving friends. There were a lot of photos taken, and for brief moments I got to said a few things to my wife.

We hung around and looked at all the different presents, and before long, I had to get going and drive my mom and friend back to Seattle. It was around 5 or 6 when I left. When I came home, some people were still hanging around, and B & M were the last people to leave, hanging out with us till 11pm.

And finally, I had my wife all by myself.

I think we also got lucky.

Happy Anniversary, Honey. I love you.