It’s our 12th anniversary today. I like saying it’s the 12th anniversary on the 12th.

12 years ago, wanting desperately to avoid the stress of a big wedding with all the logistics involved, we, with the blessing of our families, married in the small town of Nevada City, California. Don was acting in a one man show there and it was the perfect, charming place in which to marry. Since the traditional day off for the theater is Monday, that was our wedding day. We had 4 witnesses; Don’s brother and his wife, and our married friends who ran the theater. The wedding took place in the beautiful old Victorian Parlor of the National Hotel. I walked down a grand stairway in my wedding dress (found for me by my wonderful sister) and the moment I saw Don I started crying. Don cried. And our friends cried. It was incredibly moving and wondrous. And I remember every detail. I don’t know if I would have if we’d had all the hoopla of a big wedding. We were both ‘present’ in every way.

Did I mention that I had a cast on my left ankle? Oh yes.  Earlier in the summer, I fell down our back steps and broke my ankle.  I had fully planned for the cast to be off by the day of the wedding. But, the orthopedist informed me that my walking cast had to stay on a bit longer.  Tears flowed. I wanted to be a beautiful bride and how could I be that when I had a big old cast on my ankle? Don filled my heart as he has done so many times when he said that the cast would be part of our story. That it made the whole experience richer.

So I walked – carefully – down the stairs, assisted by my sister-in-law.

And it is part of our story.

Happy Anniversary, honey.