9 Years Ago Today

Indulge me in a little walk down memory lane. Nine years ago today these two young whipper snappers tied to knot. Man, I can't believe we ever looked so young. Now we don't really look old, so much as very, very, very tired.

We dated almost exactly one year before he proposed and in order to have our most loved ones present, planned a wedding in six months. During our courtship he visited me at my house almost nightly, spoke with my family in his bit of Spanish, ate my grandma's food with gusto, and attended more cutesy babyshowers than any man should ever have to. All in the name of love.




Mr. Maricucu and me at the end of the ceremony. You can't really tell but on the other side of the gazebo were some major storm clouds that had been threatening to burst the whole ceremony. We were married in the middle of August. Outdoors. In South Florida. Every woman at that wedding feared for her hair in the florida humidity.




I swear at the moment my bridal party did not seem big. Except for my best friend, my sister and my niece all the girls were my cousins.




At the end of the night, one of the highlights for my Highlander loving husband was cutting the cake with my dad's graduation sword from the Dominican naval academy. My parents used it at their wedding and I begged my dad to use it at mine despite his insistence that one had to have gone through the rigors of naval academy to use it. I believe my exact response was, "pthrrrr".




We didn't have a lavish wedding but it was lovely. We had relatives and friends come from all over the states and other countries. Many hadn't seen each other in at least twenty years so our wedding served as a reunion of sorts. And no good latin/southern wedding is complete without some dancing. You would think that the younger generation was the one taking over the dance floor. You would be very wrong.

My very dignified aunts, uncle and cousin. I'm pretty sure that was some thumping merengue in the background.




Of course, YMCA was played and every.single.person did the arm gestures including my sister in law, her husband and my niece.




But the ultimate show was put on by these two um, gentlemen. I introduce you to my dad (then 50 years old), my uncle and his best friend since childhood having a little dance off, fulfilling that day's quota for those public acts of dancing I love so much.




I remember some time before the wedding, Mr. Maricucu asked me if we could sneak off a little early from the reception to recuperate. Remember, he's the introvert. Turns out my introverted husband had to be pulled away from the reception about an hour after our planned end time.

Today we'll sit and watch the wedding video, once again explaining to one child why he wasn't invited while the older one giggles at momma and daddy in their duds. It's fun to look back fondly on the day our family was born.