Nine years ago today was the happiest day of my life.

I woke up surrounded by family and friends dancing around me, “Going to the Chapel” playing on the stereo down the hall.  My Mom made croissants, because she knew they were my favourite, but they came out mostly raw so we ended up eating the only edges.

I had a small-time freak out at the beauty salon where I got my hair and makeup done; the stylist didn’t remember what we had decided on in the trial run the week before, so she improvised.  The make up artist decided I was too pale and wouldn’t photograph well, so she applied make up that was 2 shades darker than my actual skin tone.

We were running late and as we were driving home to get dressed, a woman in the car next to us was screaming out her window “DON’T DO IT!”

Oh yeah, and it was snowing.

But none of that mattered when the church doors opened and I saw the love of my life waiting for me at the end of the aisle.

He told me I looked beautiful (which I had warned him not to forget to do), took my hand and vowed to love me for the rest of his life.

So many little things went wrong that day – a groomsman was fresh out of rehab, the beef was as tough as shoe leather, and our MC got very drunk – but, for as big of a control freak as I am, none of it mattered. 

I knew that I could face anything with this man by my side.

Our first dance was my perfect moment, and it was so perfectly…us.  It was the first time all day that we had really gotten a chance to talk without anybody else around.  So instead of this big, romantic moment, we gossiped; we talked about our mornings, and the day, and the people.

And we laughed.

While Chantal Kreviazuk sang in the background:

If you knew how lonely my life has been
And how long I’ve been so alone
If you knew how I wanted someone to come along
And change my life the way you’ve done….

It feels like home to me
It feels like I’m all the way back where
I come from

And when the day was over, we left our party to the strains of “Sexual Healing”.  We got to our hotel room, opened all of our cards, and rolled around on the bed covered in cash.

‘Cause we’re ballers, like that.

And every day since has been better than every day before.

With all that I am and all that I have, I honour you.