21 years today.

I searched for recent photos of us together and there aren’t that many. Or there aren’t that many that I consider worthy of posting. But these two photos together, I believe, capture our happiness. The wedding photo captures our joy that day. The recent photo captures a quieter joy, the joy we find in each other, the joy in traveling this life of ours together.

Both of them capture who we are and who we were.

I never expected, or necessarily wanted, to be married. And I don’t think I could ever have made that commitment to anyone but Don. The fact that two people from completely different parts of the county came together 25 years ago is nothing less than a miracle.

That we loved each other enough to make this commitment is another miracle.

And that our marriage has always been solid and strong and loving – that love growing with each passing year – is yet another miracle.

We married 21 years ago today. It was Columbus Day. We were in Nevada City, CA where Don was doing his one-man show, Jeeves Take Charge (he was brilliant). Don and our friend Lynn planned the whole thing, really, because I was working in San Diego. Don’s brother and his wife were there. Our friends Claire and Phil were there as well. Phil was Artistic Director of the theater where Don was performing. We chose the 12th because it was a Monday and Don’s day off.

We wanted a small, meaningful wedding. We didn’t want to make our families, mine especially, fly across the country and incur that expense. We didn’t want the pressure of all of that. We just wanted to commit to each other in a small, intimate ceremony. We wanted to be present for every moment of it.

And that’s what we did. We remember every bit of that ceremony, a ceremony where I came down a flight of steps in a cast (I had broken my ankle in a fall,) leaning on my sister-in-law. Where, the minute I looked down the stairs and saw Don, I started crying and couldn’t stop, where Don saw me and started crying, and soon, everyone was crying. It was utterly beautiful in every way.

Afterward, we went for a horse-drawn carriage ride through the streets of Nevada City and then dined in a private dining room with our friends.

Perfect.

I love this man more than words can describe and I’m so grateful that he loves me.

Happy Saturday.