5 years ago today

Tomorrow is my fifth wedding anniversary to my wonderful hubby Glenn (who had some not-so-wonderful issues). And five years ago today, I spent most of my time as an au pair to a precious little girl who was almost two years old, while I had several other side jobs as well. Glenn had just started a new job, his pregnant daughter had just moved out, and his ailing mother moved in with us. I was also in the middle of my undergraduate education, dealing with Crohn's disease, and had just planned a simple, but lovely, wedding, so things were a bit chaotic.

So anyhow, with the little munchkin in tow, I met Glenn at the local courthouse, where we had planned on getting our marriage license. Unfortunately, Glenn and his ex-wife had not finalized the termination of their marriage. They had hired layers, gone to court, drawn up the divorce decree, and had been separated for two years, but there was one little tiny piece of paper missing. So less than a day before our wedding, my groom-to-be and I were told that he was still married to his ex. AND, the notary informed us that a woman had been calling that day inquiring about our situation (yep,it was the ex-wife, the sweetheart). At that point, I wasn't sure if the ex was going to crash the wedding, hire a hitman, or otherwise make my life miserable. And I was understandably upset at Glenn for neglecting this vital detail BEFORE asking me to marry him. Most folks with a lick of sense would have given up then and there. I would have taken the baby back to the house, put her down for a nap, and then cried on the phone with my sis. Glenn would had returned to work and finished out the day.

But I didn't do that and neither did Glenn. Instead, I pulled out emergency Elmo fruit snacks out of the diaper bag to occupy little miss, Glenn called his divorce attorney, and we worked it out.

God help us, we ended up having a beautiful wedding the following evening with no major mishaps. The police had been called however when Glenn set off the Church alarm as he was setting up. And Glenn had a fair amount of difficulty getting the ring on my swollen prednisone-inflamed fingers during the ceremony, but all in all, it was great.

It makes me smile just to think of it. On my wedding day, I really was so very happy & confident to be marrying Glenn. The only time I got really nervous was during the beginning of the wedding when the music started and I was supposed to enter into the chapel. I turned to my friend who was telling me to start walking and I was doing a high pitched loud whisper "What do I do? What do I do?". But finally my feet started working and I was on my way to a marriage, not just a wedding. And everyone lived happily ever after, more or less.