For keeps

Matt and I were married twice. The first time, in 1991, we eloped. We went to the courthouse, brought 1 friend along, and tied the knot. You see, we planned on a wedding in 1992, even set the date and found a place. But then Matt got a job offer in Saudi Arabia. I was accepted to grad school in Pittsburgh. We decided that Matt would take the job opportunity and I would start grad school and visit Matt over the winter break.

There was just on catch. I couldn't visit Matt in Saudi Arabia unless I was his wife. Hence the elopement. We eloped with great glee. My friend Jeanne threw rice. We went to the place that we reserved for our wedding the following year and took pictures. We didn't tell anyone (trying not to hurt feelings of close relatives). That was June of 1991.

In May of 1992, Matt flew back from Saudi Arabia and we got married again. At the reserved spot with all the friends and family there. It was a great party and we weren't nervous because we were already married! We had a few weeks to pack up all our gifts, my apartment at school, sell a car, and prepare to move me over to Saudi.

One of the gifts we got was a cream whipper. I'd never seen one before. It is basically a metal cannister that you fill with cream and to which you can attach a CO2 cartridge. The cannister is pressurized with the CO2, then you shake it and out comes whipped cream. It's your own re-usable Reddi-whip. The people packing our stuff for Saudi Arabia would not allow us to ship it because of the CO2 cartridges. So we asked my mom to hold on to it. And then forgot about it.

Fast forward 15 years. My mom is cleaning out one of her rooms and... whaddaya know. The cream whipper. She gave it back to me last week. I cleaned it out and tested it tonight on Dominic's birthday pie. And on his face, Nora's face, Matt's face. It worked pretty well! This funny little cannister was a gift to me this week -- it brought me back in time for a little while to the beginning of my marriage, the start of our grand adventure. The time before we started testing out those "better or worse" vows.

2007 was a challenging year for us. Many days (and late nights) I struggled to deal with Daniel's diabetes & celiac diagnoses, and just fell apart. Matt put me back together. When I weaken, he is strong. He is positive and steadfast. I am so thankful that I get to share this life with him.