On My Anniversary

Hard to believe five years ago today I was in a small church in Lewisburg, WV gazing upon the most beautiful sight my eyes had ever seen. My wife. Walking down the aisle. I craned my neck to the right, catching only glimpses of her as she made her way down the aisle. People were standing. I was standing. But I couldn't see.

Moments before I had been in the back room of the church playing blackjack with the minister. The night before I had been playing basketball in the old gym of the medical school with my friends. We then proceeded onto a digital game of monopoly that ended with my brother throwing his controller across the room after someone traded someone else for a monopoly and a player to be named later. A couple of weeks before I had seen my best friend cry as his father served him communion at his own wedding.

There I was, looking directly in front of me but being unable to see her. My entire life I had waited for that moment when my wife would first appear in her dress that had been hidden from me. And now, here I was, shuffling to the side and all but vocally imploring people to sit down so I could see her.

Then she turned the corner, coming around the final pew at the front of the chapel, there was my wife. Hair pulled back tightly. A veil covering her countenance. Flowers in her hand. I saw my wife for the first time. Radiant. Glorious. Beautiful.

It's been five years. Longer at times than others. Tougher at times than others. There have been mountains and valleys, plateaus and sunsets. Unemployment, tests, moments a whole future was riding on, laughter, frustration, more laughter, quiet solitude together, surprises and things you plan for but could never quite believe until it happens. Marriage is an adventure, a journey. T.S. Eliot writes about taking a journey, setting out for years at a time. But the entire point of that journey is to arrive where "you first started, and know it again for the first time."

It's five years later. We are still in that church in West Virginia. I am on the platform. In the audience, standing, is the past five years. Keeping me from seeing all but mere glimpses of you fluttering down the aisle. Then, you turn the corner. And I am seeing you for the first time. You look beautiful.

Happy Anniversary, My Love.