Day 20 - 345 Days to go

I walked a lot today, but I didn't get my intentional walk in.  The first walk I took was around the Mile High stadium.  It was the only thing my nephew Alex asked to do this whole week.  We walked around outside the stadium and then spent some time inside the store.  He was so happy to be there that the staff gave us V.I.P. treatment and let us walk to the stands to get pictures.  It was too bad that Greg had to leave for a trip this morning and Logan and Abby were in school because they would have loved being there too.  Afterwards, we walked at Confluence Park and REI.  My brother Wayne called us in the afternoon to tell us he broke down, but it was good news because that meant he could spend the evening with us.  We picked him up from the truck stop and went to the nursing home to see mom.  She was beyond happy to have both of her children and all of her grandchildren visit.  She told Wayne he hadn't been around for a long time.  Luckily, she doesn't know it's been six years.


We ate dinner at the Spaghetti Factory at Lexi's request.   What a fun kids place.  They ate tons of pasta and even had room for dessert. 

Today is a special day in our family because fourteen years ago today, I was lucky enough to marry the best guy I know.  Some of my friends know this story and one of them thinks it's her favorite thing about me.  Greg and I met at Casa Bonita where we both worked.  He was a manager (I like to kid that he was a diver:-) and I was a waitress.  I had just moved to Denver from Minnesota and thought it would be fun to wait tables on the weekends.  During the week I worked at my social work job.  Eight days after I got here, my second day of work, I met Greg.  I liked him right away and though he was handsome, witty, and confident.  In one of our first serious conversations, we compared the lists that we each had about what we wanted in a relationship and were pleased to see how well they matched.  We knew we would get married almost immediately, but didn't make plans until the following New Year's when our friends from England came to visit.  Greg and I disagree on how this all came about.  What I remember is Mandy, my dearest friend from London, saying that we should plan a wedding for the spring so she and Andy could come back and ski.  We thought it was a good idea so we put them on the plane back to London and headed to Pete's Kitchen to plan our wedding.  We wrote everything down on the back of a napkin.  After Pete's we went to JcPenny at the Villa Italia mall and found my wedding dress.  Greg and I did everything together so it only seemed right that we would shop together.  My dress was one of the four I tried on.  Three months after our napkin plan, we got married. It was a beautiful and simple ceremony in a chapel in Golden.  Our friend Tink Tinker, an Osage spiritual man and Lutheran minister,  performed the service for us and the chapel let my brother smudge (a first for them).  Tink started the ceremony playing a spirit calling song on the drum.  We said the vows that we wrote for each other.  The next day we said goodbye to our family and friends and got on a plane for Isla Mujeras, Mexico. 

I think back to that day and all the people that celebrated with us.  I remember the ones that are no longer here.  In our dining room hangs a painting of the chapel with the border signed by all our loved ones and I think about Nana and Grandpa and Audrey.  By the way, Andy did a wonderful job being a scribe and made sure I have the signatures of all who were there.  I can't believe it's been fourteen years already and I really can't believe how lucky I am to have Greg for my husband.



Anniversary flowers from Greg and wedding "guest book" picture in back