Sentiments, Rain Delays, and Gratitude

I never really thought people paid attention to my teasers but a friend last night (shout out TayTay) let me know she had been waiting for my promised anniversary post all week so I think I owe it to her to do a little write up!

Last weekend, William and I celebrated our first anniversary. We are going on a cruise in May as the big celebratory bash, but we decided that for the actual weekend of the anniversary, we would each plan a date night for the other and celebrate all weekend! I’m all about dragging out celebrations as long as possible. It just makes everything more fun when you have a birth-month instead of day, two anniversary dates + a trip etc.

We decided we would do William’s date on Saturday night and mine on Sunday night (our actual anniversary was Sunday). So Saturday, we got home from soccer stuff around 4:30pm and William told me to get ready and pack an overnight bag and we’d leave around 6pm. The first place William and I ever met each other was at a Village Church Christmas party at the Hotel Intercontinental. We got in the car and I had no idea where he was taking me but sure enough, we pulled in the Intercontinental and checked in for a little anniversary stay-cation. We checked out the digs and spent some time people watching as the Dallas Military Ball was at the hotel the same night and then headed out to an amazing dinner at Uncle Julio's. It was a great night and I definitely appreciated the thoughtfulness and significance of spending some time in the first place we ever met.

Sunday morning we slept in, had brunch at the hotel and then headed down to church. It was a very overcast and drizzly day and I started to get nervous about my upcoming date night as it was scheduled to take place outside. Since soccer was canceled for the day and it was raining, we spent most of the day relaxing and watching movies (and doing a little laundry on the side). About 5pm, I decided that it wasn’t going to be dry enough outside and my date just wouldn’t be the same if I moved it indoors William suggested we wait and just do in on Monday night. We did treat ourselves to some Cane’s chicken for dinner and defrosted our saved wedding cake for dessert. We had a great, relaxing night in and the cake was surprisingly tasty (for year old cake!)

Monday night, we got to conclude our celebrations with my date night. I told William to take as long as he could at soccer so I would have plenty of time to set up. He got home right around dusk and took a quick shower giving it just enough time to be dark outside. I led him into the backyard through the side door where he found a picnic of our fave Papa John’s pizza, salad and wine on a pallet of pillows and blankets in the backyard. I borrowed a projector and speakers from friends of ours and hung a white sheet on the end of the deck so we had our own little makeshift outdoor theatre! I rented Sherlock Holmes because I knew William had been dying to see it but before the movie, I played him a little slideshow of “Our First Year in Pictures” complete with thoughts and captions on each one. It was an amazing night and we decided we need to do it again and invite all our friends for a little backyard theatre/picnic action soon!

A lot of people say that the first year of marriage is the most difficult. I really hope that is true, because if this is as hard as it ever gets, we’ll have an amazingly easy and wonderful life together! I love William more each and every day and he truly challenges me to be a better woman in all areas of my life. He pushes me to dig deeper with Christ, be more effective with my job, and more intentional with my relationships. He is a constant source of encouragement and my best friend. I know I am so blessed to share my life with this man and am grateful for our amazing first year!!