We did it!

According to schedule, we got married on Dec. 29, 2006! Overall, it was a great day, and the ceremony unfolded exactly as I'd imagined it in my head (there was only one fire, and it was put out quite promptly). But I was so happy to have the day over and get out of my dress that night and crawl into my pajamas. Weddings are fun because there are so many people around who you love and who want to help you celebrate. Weddings are also disappointing because you're so busy with everything that you don't have nearly enough time to visit with all your guests.

We left on our honeymoon the next day, down to a cabin in Blue Ridge, Georgia. I thought the whole thing was going to blow up in our faces at first. All our flights were delayed, we didn't get into Atlanta until past midnight, then our luggage didn't show up. Then we had to get our rental car and somehow find out where in the world our cabin was.... But first I made Josh stop at a WalMart (the only thing open at 3:00 a.m.). I was NOT about to start a honeymoon without such an essential item as a toothbrush. Our marvel of a rental car didn't have a working dome light. We also had about 243987 turns to make down dark, winding roads to get to the cabin. You figure it out--after every time we made a turn, Josh would pull over, hop out and pop open the trunk to use the light to read the next step in our directions. We finally arrived at our cabin at 5:00 in the morning. The furnace didn't work. I was ready to cry. Throughout the whole experience Josh kept erupting in random fits of laughter. Even though that really annoyed me at the time, later on I was happy at least one of us was finding it funny. If we were both grouchy about it, the whole thing would have been much worse.

On New Year's Eve, we thought we could at least redeem the rocky beginning by making a nice meal and eating it by candlelight. We went to the grocery store. When we got to the cashier she yanked our bottles of wine and champagne out of our cart and said, "No wine on Sundays." I said, "Ha ha!" thinking she was just joking. She wasn't. "What???" I said. She said, "Georgia state law." How were we going to celebrate New Year's Eve without wine??? We thought maybe Tenessee's laws would be different. We drove ALL OVER the area, from one spot to the next. No luck. Apparently we were in a "dry county." We got a 6-pack of beer and went back to our cabin, dejected. We decided Dec. 31 was not New Year's Eve after all. We went to bed early that night, and declared Jan. 1 New Year's Eve instead.

We spent three days wearing the same clothes and feeling stinky and dirty. When our luggage finally came, it felt like Christmas all over again! And then our week really took off. I've never felt so relaxed in my life. We could sleep in as long as we wanted, we walked out our front door to take in the amazing view of the Blue Ridge mountains lying down below us. We lazed in front of the fire, watched movies, cooked great meals, sat in the hot tub. Amongst the numerous other special occasions, I also had a birthday--27! (I know that it slipped most peoples' minds, understandably) The whole week was exactly what we needed, and it was hard to leave at the end. (have I forgotten anything, Joshy?)

We took all the cards from people along with us, and we spent several mornings opening them slowly and reading them. We are truly humbled by the kindness and the amazing generosity of people. We could have never gotten married or had our wedding without all the support and involvement of our families, relatives, and friends. We have so much to be thankful for. We opened the rest of our presents when we got back, and we felt even further blessed by the generosity of people. In fact, I think there was only one present out of ALL our presents that we scratch our heads at. Anyone want a deer antler table lamp??

Now we're back, and it's time to get real life started. I'm happy about that because it's why we got married in the first place. But there's so much to do. Josh has been busy moving out of his house and bringing his stuff to our apartment in Vermillion. Where are we going to put everything? Will I get my two syllabi written in time to start teaching next week? Those are the current questions du jour.

p.s. Sorry, no pictures yet. The picture place some how "lost" more than half the roll of our honeymoon pictures (which included a drive into the "Deep Forest" of Chattahoochee National Wilderness Area). Our wedding pictures aren't back yet either. :(